Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Voter registration fraud - actual effect?
With all this talk of ACORN and dubious or downright fraudulent voter registration, I still feel like I don't have a good sense of the *actual* potential impact on voting. McCain was on TV this morning talking about the fact that he might lose Florida due to registration fraud.
If an imaginary person is registered, how frequently will that non-person cast a ballot? I would imagine it would require a stand-in going to a polling place, producing fake ID (in states that require ID) and casting a ballot. Or, that non person would have to procure an absentee ballot, which in my state, at least, requires valid state ID. In reality, how frequently does this happen?
What is the average percentage of ballots cast from fraudulent registrations?
I am NOT excusing ACORN's practices, and if anything I think we should make paying people to register voters illegal.
But in terms of voter fraud I am more concerned about phone calls to voters "reminding" them to vote Obama on November 11th, or fliers warning voters that if they are late on their mortgage they may be arrested at the polls, etc.
Thanks for any data you can offer!
I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.
Re: Voter registration fraud - actual effect?
I follow your line of thinking, especially when it comes to Florida. I know that here, okay, maybe you can register Tony Romo from the Cowboys or Mickey Mouse. Maybe it won't get caught and a registration card gets sent out.
But at least in Broward County (And Miami-Dade where I lived previously), you have to provide some kind of identification when you vote. I've always had to provide my driver's license. They've checked the signature on the license to the one when I sign in (which to be honest--always makes me hold my breath, lol. I got my new DL shortly after we got married and I still wasn't used to signing my new married name. My signature now is a little different...) Even my grandmother, who doesn't drive, has voted--using her passport as her photo ID.
I honestly don't know if the ID rules vary county-by-county, but I don't think so. At least not for voting in person.
But I just checked my Board of Elections website and you can request an absentee ballot right there. It doesn't ask for proof other than you filling out your personal information.
That might be concerning and it could be what McCain is referencing...
Ah, that's interesting about the absentee ballot. But in that case to commit actual voting fraud based on the registrations, a person who claims to be Qwerty Qwertyu would have to actually show up, right?
It seems to me that a person who is too lazy to register voters and cheats by making up names is not going to be inclined to actually orchestrate a bevy of stand ins on the day of voting. I'm sure to SOME extent illegal ballots are cast, but I just doubt the full impact as it is described by the MPC.
I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.
Yeah, that's my theory.
If you fraudulently register as Mickey Mouse and it's not caught, if you intend to vote as Mickey Mouse, I'm guessing you better go vote on election day. And then when you get asked for your ID, you better have consistent information or you won't be able to vote.
For the record, there's a post on E08 about Florida's Republican governor saying he's not concerned about voter fraud here...
Here's the link:
Despite claims by the Republican National Committee that the integrity of Florida's voting system is at risk thanks to the registration efforts of ACORN, a liberal leaning group that backs Sen. Barack Obama, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist said he's not buying it.
"There are some who sort of enjoy chaos," Crist told reporters this morning.
Crist said he has "enormous confidence" in his secretary of state, Republican Kurt Browning, who reports there is no widespread voter fraud in Florida. A handful of bogus registrations, including one for Mickey Mouse, have been submitted by ACORN in Central Florida, but they've been caught by elections officials or the organization itself.
In a conference call, the second in two days, RNC spokesman Danny Diaz and chief counsel Sean Cairncross warned that ACORN and, by extension, the Democratic presidential nominee were corrupting the system. They were unable to offer new specifics, but that based on the "sheer volume of reports," Diaz said, "it's hard to argue that there's not a national systemic problem... At least three counties have issues in Florida and I'm certain there are probably more."
source: http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2008/10/crist-not-buyin.html
I was surprised to see a woman on O'Reilly admitting last night that this is not actually going to lead to any voter fraud, since no one is going to try to show up and vote posing as these people.
But she did argue that high registration numbers will help ACORN raise more money. Oh the horror (since most of their workers are not doing anything like this).
"As of page 2 this might be the most boring argument ever. It's making me long for Rape Day." - Mouse
Many states have no ID requirements to vote.
Some states (Ohio was one) you could register AND then immediately vote during a specific period of time. They are now looking at those registrations/votes to see if they were legal or not.
Also - registering large numbers of Democrats skews Polls - as some are weighted by % of Dems and Repbus - thus giving a false advantage.
Sisu - how does it skew polls? Do Mickey Mouse and Qwerty Qwertyu get polled? I understand that registering imaginary people might falsely indicate that more people are registered, but I fail to see how these dead or non-people affect pre-election polls.
I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.