Thread: So what's the solution to a crappy registration and voting system?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/us...=MYWAY&ei=5065

One in eight active registrations is invalid or inaccurate. At the same time, one in four people who are eligible to vote — at least 51 million potential voters — are not registered.
The report found that there are about 1.8 million dead people listed as active voters. Some 2.8 million people have active registrations in more than one state. And 12 million registrations have errors serious enough to make it unlikely that mailings based on them will reach voters.

This is something that anyone dialed in to politics, government "watching", voting or just fractious debates has known (or at least highly suspected) for decades. What's the solution?

One that I can see addressing the issue is a National/Federal Voter ID Card. But I am open to other possibilities if they resolve the problem(s) with the existing system.

Solution must address:

• Invalid registrations (either by death or penal status
• Duplicate registrations across states/municipalities
• Lower cost of registration for government and therefore tax payers
• Increase the number of new, and valid, registered voters

Nope. There are many legal drivers who are not legal voters. Nor is driver's license a compulsion to register to vote.

Sent via highly charged bolt of electricity.

The problem with the national ID is that, if it costs any money, it's equivalent to a poll tax, which is illegal.

I dont see how a national voter card would make anything any different then the registration cards. Sure at first because it would require fresh information to get them but after a while why would it be any different?

Originally Posted by CivilWars

People make decisions on risk of loss, or possibility of gain. Obviously in this situation there is not enough motivation based on either factor to get a ton of people to vote. Change the motivation, not the method. Not sure how you legally do that though.


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True enough.

Originally Posted by Fovezer

Invalid, incorrect, and duplicate registrations really aren't much of a real problem other than they clutter up the voting rolls. So I wouldn't spend too many resources trying to fix that. A national voter ID wouldn't be much different than we have now, like death said. And finally, Civil is right that it comes down to motivation and the belief that their vote matters. Too many people are either unmotivated or don't care to vote because they don't think their vote matters.

(Geez, I'm agreeing with both death AND Civil?! I guess the Mayans were right after all...)

Thats right come to the dark side.

Originally Posted by WickedTribe

The problem with the national ID is that, if it costs any money, it's equivalent to a poll tax, which is illegal.

In all recent instances that I've heard of any proposed National ID that states/municipalities/federal subsidy would provide them free of charge for those people unable to afford them.

Additionally there's been a highly important ruling on photo Identification (Supreme Court Upholds Voter Identification Law in Indiana - New York Times) by SCOTUS declaring it Constitutional and not an onerous burden.

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Fovezer

Too many people are either unmotivated or don't care to vote because they don't think their vote matters.

Agreed