The Problem With Voting...

It would seem to me that dead people don't need to vote any longer because over the years they more than likely did their civic duty and deserve to rest in peace. I also think that in this coming election there may be wide spread cases of voter fraud because some people will do anything to hold onto that seat of power and continue to warm those seat cushions with their tired fannies. The perks seem to be marvelous. You can spend the tax payer's money that they don't have to spend and grin your way through life mugging for the cameras as you go. Heck yeah, just ask the organization (whatever their name(s) is now) formerly known as ACORN. I know. Obama used to be affiliated with ACORN but what the hay.

The Pew Center for the States just published a study that found there are more than 1.8 million dead people who are still on the voter registration rolls across this nation. I lived in a place where the mayor's race was decided by one (1) vote so if one dead person is allowed to vote then it can indeed swing an election. The same study also found between 24 million people on the rolls with either an invalid or inaccurate registration. I'm also wondering how many illegal aliens have been allowed to register to vote but that wasn't addressed in this particular study but they are out there.

Do these "little discrepancies" make the process of fair, democratic elections vulnerable? No one would ever consider having dead people vote would they? We're talking about career politicians here so think again. ACORN officials have been convicted, and in some instances remain under indictment. for wide spread cases of voter fraud even though NPR, in an article, claims that the facts here haven't led to wide spread voter fraud. Really? Then why are people being sent to prison to make little rocks out of big rocks? Did I mention Obama's past relationship with ACORN?

Part of the problem is mobility, which dead people usually lack unless they are in a rolling coffin, because the citizenry of this country move around a lot. May I make a suggestion? Good, I was sure you wouldn't mind. If you move, stop by or write the jurisdiction you are leaving to say "Adios" at the Registrar's Office. You need to understand that legally your old voter registration is no longer valid when you register to vote to wherever you end up. I said "legally." No one would vote more than once would they? Even if they were paid to be? Vote buying surely doesn't occur, does it?

Why isn't there a central point where the states can submit their rolls to cross check and see if a person is registered in multiple locations? There isn't any way to share that information at the present time which is a vulnerability in the one of basics rights of the citizenry. That right should not be abused or misused. The study found one man, who will remain unnamed, who moves so often that he is probably registered in at least half a dozen different registrar's office to vote. Pew went on further to find that about 3 million people are registered to vote in more than one state. That's a lot of votes!

There is a bright side to this story. There is a pilot program that seven (7) states have created to share information, both voter rolls and other databases, to cross reference the information available to nab the perpetrators. Pew is the driving force behind the pilot program and the institute hopes to have it up and running by this November's election cycle.

It appears to be quite a project since the death records at the social security administration, motor vehicle registration data (dead people no longer drive ya know?) and the state's voter registration rolls are collected and slipped into the computer and spit out the results so the rolls can be scrubbed as they should be. Maybe it would be good if the other 47 states and the territories where people are allowed to vote jump on the band wagon.

There are the Doubting Thomas's among us who scratch their heads and wonder if this will result in more accurate records being maintained. One thing is for sure though. It sure won't result in more inaccuracies. Those numbers are very, very high. For every dead person that is allowed to vote it cancels out one vote that a person who is alive and kicking casts on election day. If in fact someone is struck from the rolls in error, it should be a simple matter to rectify that situation. But if you are dead, you are dead and your civic responsibility is for evermore absolved.

The other helpful hint is to require some form of government issued photo ID when you step up to the polling place. We need be required to do that just as we do with any other legal transaction we become involved in. Why not to vote?

As Always,

The Frog Prince