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A modest proposal with regard to voting


RichlandsAlum
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Election day is a set date and polls are closed at a specific time.  All citizens are (apparently) empowered to vote prior to both of these established timelines.

Given these factors, all votes should be counted and reported immediately as they are cast.  And no votes shall be counted beyond the established timelines.

Seems like this would resolve a lot of problems.  Tell me what I'm missing.

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Agree, but there are those on the left who WANT problems.  The WANT chaos.  It's part of what a guy like Marx taught.  It's what Lenin preached.   Common sense would tell us that unless you are outside of the country, or military, etc, no mail in ballots.  You get to the polls physically or you do not vote.  That would immediately stamper out 95% of corruption.  Which party do you think has proposed that and which one had continuously not allowed it to get to vote out of its house committee?  You guessed it.  In order to have goodness and fairness, we can no longer assume that a certain group wants that.  Years ago, we knew that.  It's no longer the case.  The Democratic Party has gone over the edge.  They have been taken over my Marxists and fools.  They hate America.  They want the system to fail and or crush it, and to start it over in their image.  When you get to this point, there is no reasoning with these people.  Facts mean nothing.  Fairness means nothing.

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It's a nice sentiment that would likely require Federal legislation.  Every state has vastly different legislation on how and when votes can be cast and counted. 

A few issues I see from a 30-mile view. 

  • Republicans like to talk about "states rights."  Would they go along with a Federal measure taking election rights away from the states?
  • First responders almost always vote early, which is something not talked about often enough.  Many larger metro areas require early voting for police because they are on heightened alert on election day.  My brother hasn't voted on election day since 2000. 
  • How would long polling lines be handled?  Lets say Bill in Philadelphia gets off work at 5pm, heads directly to his polling place, where he stands in line for 3 hours to vote yet, polls were supposed to close at 7pm!?!?!
  • Would exceptions be made for senior citizens with limited mobility?  It was quite difficult for my grandfather to get to his polling place at the age of 86 while battling cancer and being bedridden for two years. It was the only election he didn't cast a ballot in his adult life.
  • How do we address service members stationed abroad?  For 8 years in the military, I never cast a single vote in person, or on election day.

In my opinion, election day should be a national holiday.  Then, timelines would be far more easily achieved for everyone. Election day timelines were established when the US population was that of current day Virginia.  Which brings to mind, many, many regulations surrounding our election process could and should be brought into the 21st century!   

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1 hour ago, RichlandsAlum said:

Election day is a set date and polls are closed at a specific time.  All citizens are (apparently) empowered to vote prior to both of these established timelines.

Given these factors, all votes should be counted and reported immediately as they are cast.  And no votes shall be counted beyond the established timelines.

Seems like this would resolve a lot of problems.  Tell me what I'm missing.

Im not sure of the solution but the total $#!+ show that this election was proves that some issues need to be addressed and there needs to be more uniformity from state to state. We can t find ourselves in this situation again in 2024. I dont personally believe that Trump was robbed of the election, but there were undoubtedly some fishy happenings and too many questions that had to be answered on the spot

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Responses/further rambling thoughts as follows....

What I am suggesting would apply to federal elections and therefore presumably be accomplished through federal legislation.

There have always been exceptions for absentee voting in place that appeared to work perfectly well up until this point.  I'm okay with election day being a federal holiday, but given the fact that early voting is already well out of the barn I don't think that will have much practical effect.

If you're in line to vote when the polls close, you still get to vote.  If you arrive afterward, you don't.  My logic there is based on the fact that there appear to be many opportunities for early voting (both in person and via absentee ballot).

I personally believe that Joe Biden was fairly elected as the 46th President of the United States.  Unfortunately, the manner in which large numbers of ballots were counted well after the date and time that polls closed gives some argument to those who choose to believe otherwise.  Ultimately that is not fair to either party, the incumbent, or the challenger.  Just my opinion, of course.

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Just now, sixcat said:

In my opinion, the entire process should be streamlined.  We are the most technologically advanced society on the planet and we vote as if it were 1821 rather than 2021.

Agreed.   While I know just enough about information technology matters to be dangerous, I'm still perplexed by the switch back to paper ballots a few years back (which are themselves scanned and reported by a computer).

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1 minute ago, RichlandsAlum said:

Agreed.   While I know just enough about information technology matters to be dangerous, I'm still perplexed by the switch back to paper ballots a few years back (which are themselves scanned and reported by a computer).

It's arcane the way we vote in this country!

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46 minutes ago, sixcat said:

It's arcane the way we vote in this country!

Arcane- "understood by few, mysterious, or secret.

Did you mean "archaic"?  As in, old fashioned?  I felt obliged since you played grammar police on me yesterday.   If "arcane" LMAO is fair, then we need to be "arcane". 

 

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Picture voter ID card tied to the Social Security death database only to make sure the voter is not deceased. Voter ID cards are issued free of charge. All voters can go online and check to see the status of their vote. All voting can be retraced instantly. No absentee ballot unless it is requesting in writing with voter ID number. Voter ID number must be on the returned and signed ballot. 

We should be able to recreate the election any time electronically. 

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Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 places the “times, places, and manner” of federal elections squarely on Congress.  Though states would hate it, if Congress tied some appropriation to the bill to make it “optional”, then every single state would hit it like a shark hitting a baitfish.  
 

My proposals, which are admittedly not sufficiently detailed:

 

(1) All civilians, excluding those living abroad, shall be entitled to an early voting period not to exceed 30 days.  
 

(2) All types of voting by mail are immediately abolished, except that members of the armed forces and civilians living abroad may be entitled to vote by mail for a period not to exceed 60 days from the date of the election.

 

(3) Voting registration is hereby abolished.  In so doing, all American citizens who have reached the age of majority shall be eligible to receive, and shall obtain, a federally-issued identification card.  Such card shall be used as identification for all citizens who wish to vote.

 

(4) If a person loses, misplaces, or is otherwise not in possession of the identification card, a card issued by the Social Security Administration or valid passport issued by the State Department shall be valid for purposes of voting.

 

(5) The vital statistic of death shall hereafter be considered a federal record subject to NARA, and the several states shall provide such records to or update such records for NARA for verification within 7 days of the date of the election.  All votes shall be verified against the federal registry of NARA, and all votes found to be cast by a person deceased after the casting of such vote shall be declared invalid.

 

(6) All ballots otherwise not cast by mail shall be pre-canvassed by 11:59 PM on the day of the election.  Federal funding shall be made available for provision of contemporary tabulation technology for all localities to ensure compliance with federal law.  
 

(7) At least 1 member(s) of each political party represented on the ballot may freely, without obstruction, observe the pre-canvassing procedure, and may be permitted to be as close as 3 feet to the officials conducting the pre-canvassing while such activity occurs.  
 

That should about take care of Election Day issues, I’d think.  You ensure that the vote is as open as possible but restricted to only living American citizens.  It puts more burden on the feds, but adds relatively less to the localities administering the election.

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If you abolish registration how are you going to know what jurisdiction (State, County, City) the person belongs to?  That is the problem. The ballot in Mercer County is way different from the ballot in Raleigh County and completely different from the one in Tazewell County.

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11 minutes ago, Bluefield researcher said:

If you abolish registration how are you going to know what jurisdiction (State, County, City) the person belongs to?  That is the problem. The ballot in Mercer County is way different from the ballot in Raleigh County and completely different from the one in Tazewell County.

The federally-issued ID would be linked with a person’s residency.  If the person were to change residency, the person would need to update the address with the Social Security Administration.  


The localities would still be conducting the vote at precincts as established in accordance with federal and state law.  Presumably, as the ID is scanned, if a person not at the correct precinct, the scanner notifies the election official of the correct precinct based upon the address of record.

 

It would require some technological integration, but this is 2021, and we need to leave the 1950s mindset.

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4 minutes ago, UVAObserver said:

The federally-issued ID would be linked with a person’s residency.  If the person were to change residency, the person would need to update the address with the Social Security Administration.  


The localities would still be conducting the vote at precincts as established in accordance with federal and state law.  Presumably, as the ID is scanned, if a person not at the correct precinct, the scanner notifies the election official of the correct precinct based upon the address of record.

 

It would require some technological integration, but this is 2021, and we need to leave the 1950s mindset.

I agree with what you are trying to accomplish I can assure you voters will not update their addresses and as a person that worked at SSA they do not have the time or resources to update every time someone moves. You WANT the person to be able to vote in the RIGHT place. Not send them to the wrong place because the incorrect address on file says they should go there even though they don't live there anymore. You still need your county clerks to do the registration but it would be logged into a national system. The national computer system should cancel one registration when a person registers in another local or gets a passport, driver permit or state ID somewhere else. It is complicated but it can be done.

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