Fraud potential still unchecked

[WhiskeyGirl]

Fraud potential still unchecked

Published: Friday, October 17, 2008
Updated: Friday, October 17, 2008 7:10 AM EDT
People who have submitted fraudulent voter registration forms in counties across the country should be arrested. But the public should recognize that the registrations do not imperil the integrity of the impending elections, and that the real threat continues to go unchecked.

The registrations at issue have been filed mostly by people who are paid to meet registration quotas. The most visible of those groups is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, ACORN. Barack Obama, as a lawyer and community organizer (though not for ACORN), once represented the group in a suit against the Illinois state government for its failure to implement the federal Motor Voter registration law. ACORN also has received grants from a foundation of which Mr. Obama was a board member.

(snip)

People who file phony forms should be prosecuted. There also is an easy remedy. ACORN and other organizers should not pay anyone until after the forms clear local offices as being legitimate.

Meanwhile, the biggest threat to an accurate vote count is the inconsistency and wide range of reliability of voting systems nationwide.

A new national study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University has found substantial improvement in voting systems since 2004, but also the need for substantial improvement.

The principal inadequacy nationwide is over-reliance on electronic voting machines that do not have verifiable backup systems in order to verify results.

Pennsylvania is among the states that the study found to have inadequate paper trails, although that is not an issue in counties that use paper ballots, such as Lackawanna and some others in this part of the state.

The risk is not so much wayward registration as inadequately secure voting. It’s a sign of modern political dysfunction that the wrong part of the system is getting the most attention.

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2008/10/17/editorial/sc_times_trib.20081017.a.pg12.tt17edit2_s1.2020069_edi.txt

[WhiskeyGirl]

Where is the paper trail for voter registration? 

Does the one doing the registering take a copy of the credentials?  Does anyone check/verify the credentials?

In this day and age, it would be easy to photoshop a utility bill, lease, or other 'proof of residency' or 'proof of citizenship'.  imho

How many non-existent people exist in the voter rolls?  How many that were never born, are dead, and/or exist only on some photoshopped documents?

I remember years ago public service announcements on the TV urging people to check the photo-ID of utility workers that came to their home and wanted access.  The adds also encouranged folks to call and verify the credentials if they had concerns. 

Is there any place that requires that potential voters show a government issued photo ID at the polls?  For advance voting? 

IMHO, in this day and age, the voting system in the US mocks the very thing it was set up to ensure - one person = one vote, and the person voting should fall within the established guidelines.

Who verifies that the utility bills are real?  Who verifies the identity?  What if a person registering at the polls in one location is Jane Smith (has a friend along to 'vouch' for them) and Mary Grabowski at another? 

In this day and age of identity theft and fraud, the bar needs to be raised for those voting. 

I think much of the voter fraud/registration fraud happend during the before and during the primary season.  ACORN is just a diversion.

just my humble opinions