What checks? What needs checking? Just get your name ticked off, take your ballot, vote. Shouldn't be that hard. The main trick is just ensuring everyone's names are on the list.
There are two problems : how do you prove you've ticked off the right name, and how do you deal with absentee votes. Because the US doesn't have a national ID card system there's a debate on which ID should be accepted or not. And absentee voting/mail in voting needs checks to make sure the right person voted. People also need to know in advance which polling station is theirs, so it needs to be organized.
You need ID yes, to check that you are who you say you are and tick off the right name on the list. But everyone in France has one so it's not really a condition for voting. The voting card that people receive every few years (or when they change their address) on the other hand is recommanded but not mandatory.You need ID to vote?
We don't have a national ID in Australia either (we are also a federation so the main photo ID, drivers licenses, are state IDs). When I go and vote I just tell them my name and address and they cross me off. In between elections the electoral commission works constantly to keep the roll updated with everyone's name and address.There are two problems : how do you prove you've ticked off the right name, and how do you deal with absentee votes. Because the US doesn't have a national ID card system there's a debate on which ID should be accepted or not. And absentee voting/mail in voting needs checks to make sure the right person voted. People also need to know in advance which polling station is theirs, so it needs to be organized.
No it isn't, because as per the running theme of the conversation it benefits those that define illegal (which also includes people very keen on defining "illegal" to be more than it legally is right now).illegal votes should, in fact, be suppressed. the reason for that should be self evident
That seems strange as hell. So anyone can go to any polling station in your district, claim to be you, vote, and nothing stops them ?We don't have a national ID in Australia either (we are also a federation so the main photo ID, drivers licenses, are state IDs). When I go and vote I just tell them my name and address and they cross me off. In between elections the electoral commission works constantly to keep the roll updated with everyone's name and address.
At elections we have postal voting and all day early in-person voting for multiple weeks. On election day there's provisional/declaration votes if you're not able to be confirmed on the roll, there's interstate voting on election day at many booths if you're outside your state. If you're outside your electorate but inside your state there's absent voting at every polling place on election day.
You also don't need to go to a particular assigned polling station to do ordinary voting, you can ordinary vote any polling place in your district on the day. I don't know why so many countries assign people an exact place they have to vote, that seems constricting. (And what if the place doesn't have a barbecue onsite!!??)
It's an administrative capacity thing. Get a single national electoral roll that is easy to enroll in, and is automatically updated from tax, drivers licence, medicare etc data. Whatever's available. Letting every state and county run things themselves is seemingly terrible for good access to enrollment and ballots.
If everyone accessing the franchise is genuinely an administrative priority, voting can be made something the government bureaucracy works hard to ensure is accessible by every means possible, as easily as possible.
As opposed to enrollment and voting being something blocked by red tape, hostile laws and bad databases. A key problem in the US is passive and active voting and enrollment barriers are so frequently treated as a legitimate political tactic, seemingly to help achieve and maintain minority rule.
Why would they? Double voting is super easy to identify and investigate.That seems strange as hell. So anyone can go to any polling station in your district, claim to be you, vote, and nothing stops them ?
Basically I have no idea why you're saying that. If someone has voted and shouldn't have you can't pinpoint to their personal vote and take it out of the box, so there's no way to correct things.Why would they? Double voting is super easy to identify and investigate.
This is also avoided by that person being able to vote by several different means even if they're not at home that day.Edit : with mandatory voting you avoid problems like knowing your neighbor is out of town and can't vote and going to the polling station to vote in their place.
I say it because we know it basically does not happen. When they reconcile the rolls post election they usually find a few dozen instances of double votes, nearly all related to elderly people of reduced mental capacity who likely voted by one method (postal, special aged care mobile teams, etc) then forgot and voted again on election day (potentially by being taken by a relative who didn't know they'd voted).
This is also avoided by that person being able to vote by several different means even if they're not at home that day.
Also by people not being enormous weirdos I guess.
I still have bones to pick with the UK's restrictive rules on voting from away from home of course!UK is much the same. Don't have all these elaborate precautions some countries do and yet don't have any evidence of widespread electoral fraud.
Sadly our government is jumping on the voter suppression bandwagon. The poor and young tend to be the groups most hit by these measures to prevent a non-existent problem.
Mustn't be enough sausages for sale at polling places lol"Everybody votes" is so engrained inside you that you don't realize that if that person doesn't care about the vote they might be out of town and not vote by a different mean. Your electoral system is vulnerable but your collective mentality around voting seems to make it really difficult to game the system.
I personally know many people who don't vote sometimes despite it taking like 5mn and them being interested in politics. Fraud would be so easy if your system was in place here...
I still have bones to pick with the UK's restrictive rules on voting from away from home of course!
So as supposed to investing in education, deradicalising partisan or extremist rhetoric in mainstream parties (i.e. the Overton window), etc . . . your solution is "everyone I think isn't smart enough doesn't get a vote"?Likely controversial opinion but I do not think high voter turnout, taken on its own merits, is necessarily a good thing. Mathematically, half the population is of below average intelligence and I'm not convinced average intelligence is too impressive either. A lot of dumb people vote, often against their own interests. Too often it seems elections are decided by ignorant and/or uninformed voters. Not looking to cast aspersions at people on this forum who vote, just my take on high voter turnout.
For reference, I do not vote.