On voter fraud and exaggerations
Oct. 21st, 2012 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyWhat I don't get is how, even if there really is as much voter fraud as some parties claim (something I find doubtful), we expect IDs to curb this.
If TV and movies have taught me anything, it's that fake IDs are not all that hard to obtain. Kids routinely pick them up to buy things they're not old enough to get. People who anticipate having to go on the run have extras made just in case. More sinisterly, real criminals use them to con people and get away with crimes.
If somebody has no scruples about voting twice, why would they care about breaking another law and using one or two or twenty fake IDs to vote as many times as they please? How, exactly, would IDs be more reliable and useful than other methods of verifying identity such as requiring a signature?
Of course, when it comes to that, if I wanted to scam the system it'd probably be easier to simply pick up a group of apathetics, offer them cash, then tell them who to vote for. Sure, there might be some issues with reliability, but there's bound to be ways around that. Or, better yet, rig the machines from the start. With sufficient cash and few enough morals you can do just about anything, and it seems to me that this level of vote manipulation is something rich people are more likely to do.
On that note, United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups...
Naturally some people are quite upset by this even though the observers have no power to do anything, and of course there's no way that any American would *ever* do anything to make the election unfair. Which I'd like to believe as well, and *because* I'd like to believe it I have no problem with anybody observing our elections.
If TV and movies have taught me anything, it's that fake IDs are not all that hard to obtain. Kids routinely pick them up to buy things they're not old enough to get. People who anticipate having to go on the run have extras made just in case. More sinisterly, real criminals use them to con people and get away with crimes.
If somebody has no scruples about voting twice, why would they care about breaking another law and using one or two or twenty fake IDs to vote as many times as they please? How, exactly, would IDs be more reliable and useful than other methods of verifying identity such as requiring a signature?
Of course, when it comes to that, if I wanted to scam the system it'd probably be easier to simply pick up a group of apathetics, offer them cash, then tell them who to vote for. Sure, there might be some issues with reliability, but there's bound to be ways around that. Or, better yet, rig the machines from the start. With sufficient cash and few enough morals you can do just about anything, and it seems to me that this level of vote manipulation is something rich people are more likely to do.
On that note, United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups...
Naturally some people are quite upset by this even though the observers have no power to do anything, and of course there's no way that any American would *ever* do anything to make the election unfair. Which I'd like to believe as well, and *because* I'd like to believe it I have no problem with anybody observing our elections.
