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Thursday, July 15, 2021

The Right To Vote

 

The Right To Vote

a cranky opinion for

CRANKY OPINION FRIDAY

The following opinion is that of a Cranky Old Man with absolutely no expertise on the topic opined.  Opposing opinions are welcome, but they are wrong.  As always, no name calling, and that means you, you big stupid-head.

 

I know I will be sorry for voicing this opinion piece, though it is not meant to be a partisan opinion, it will probably be read (or partially read) and interpreted that way.  Oh well, here goes.

The country currently is battling over voting procedures. 

Republicans, Democrats say, want to make voting as difficult as possible because, the argument goes, Democrats are less likely to vote than Republicans, when voting is difficult. 

Restrictive voting is inherently racist.

Democrats, Republicans say, want to make voting as easy as possible because, the argument goes, less restrictive voting makes illegal voting more possible and illegal voting generally goes Democrat.

One way or another, it is assumed that loose voting laws makes for illegal votes and questionable election results; restrictive laws reduce voting in high Democratic areas, and are racist.

Both arguments probable hold some water,  particularly when viewed in the extreme.

A tax to vote is restrictive and clearly undemocratic.  Complicated registration the same.  Limited times or places to vote…ditto.

Unrestricted registration, not clearing voter rolls, no requirement for voter identification…all make illegal voting an issue.

I expect there have been elections, especially local elections that have turned based on illegal votes, but more importantly, illegal voting places doubt on the outcome.  Doubt in an election undermines the process.

Ideally, voting should be a simple, secure process for all legal voters, and only legal voters. 

Personal experience tells me that illegal voting today is very easy.  I don’t think it is a huge problem other than the undermining doubt it can cause, but is does exist. I know this for a fact.

I have three family members who by way of changing addresses are able to vote in multiple states, and have been able to do so for over ten years.  They do not, especially with in person voting it is difficult; but they could, especially when mail-in ballots are easily available, sometimes even sent without a request.

I see these family members names on the polls when I vote in person, and I received their ballots this year when New Jersey sent mail-in ballots to all registered voters.  I tore them up and discarded them.

When ballots are sent to every registered voter, these invalid ballots can easily be used illegally. 

Mail-in ballots are especially susceptible to voter fraud, they should not simply be sent out to every registered voter. 

To protect against voting result doubt, mail-in voting should be selective, require some ID, and monitored.  In-person voting should require some secure identification.   We have cameras, we have computers, this should not be difficult.  Hell, even a third world ink-smudged-thumb is more high tech then most of our systems.

The one voting situation that bothers me the most, is voter congestion.

Every year I read of people waiting up to five and six hours to vote.  Talk about voter restriction! I have never waited more than 10 minutes to vote…EVER!  If I had to wait 5 hours I think I would just stay home.

All of these stories of excessive wait times to vote come from heavily Democratic districts.  Why is that?  It makes no sense.  Establishing multiple places to legally vote so that voting times are reasonable should be easy.  For parties that spend fortunes in money and time to “Get out the vote” why not assure people are able to vote in person without restrictive wait times?

If every voter could walk to his voting location, wait five minutes, show some identification and vote, then mail-in ballots would be needed less, and could be more easily controlled.

Here are my rules for fair voting. 

Register with proof of eligibility and with identification.

Vote in person with proof of identification.

Mail-in ballots need to be requested with proof of identification.

Multiple voting days, longer hours, and adequate voting locations to accommodate in-person voting should be standard.

Voting should not require waiting in long lines. 

Waiting six hours to vote?  Outrageous! Those urban, Democrat controlled districts should be ashamed.

The preceding was the opinion of a Cranky Old Man, and not necessarily that of management...Mrs. Cranky.

  

 

11 comments:

  1. Voting here is different. It is compulsory for all aged over 18 and the names are on the electoral roll and get printed off when it is time to vote. We go to the designated school or other public place and wait in line to get our names crossed off, then get the voting papers to fill out. Easy. Every time you change your address, you are supposed to update the info at the electoral office and these days that can be done online as soon as you have lived in your new place for two weeks.

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  2. Instead of elections and voting which is very expensive and full of problems, I have a better solution. The leaders of all parties meet on TV and play Rock Paper Scissors. The winner is elected.

    I wrote to our major parties suggesting this and they ignored me. That's not democratic, I think.

    God bless.

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  3. I’ve waited an hour to vote, so it happens in the suburbs, too. Like most things, you do wonder how we’ve put a man on the moon but can’t figure out an easy, fair way to vote.

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  4. If you get "Multiple voting days, longer hours, and adequate voting locations to accommodate in-person voting should be standard." I'd vote for it. With Covid and being high risk, I did vote "mail in" last year.

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  5. I have voted since I was 18. 50 yrs. Never, ever have I waited in a long line to vote. I have had our voting place changed 4 times since we've lived in our present home. Now I'm wondering how many of those elections over the past 50yrs were actually legal. In truth we didn't have elections every year for 50yrs so maybe I haven't been involved in as many corrupt elections. Wait, I grew up in Chicago. Hmmm

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  6. Like one of the comments above: you do wonder how we’ve put a man on the moon but can’t figure out an easy, fair way to vote.
    Things have to be worked out to make voting easy and fast. Not difficult.

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  7. I've been voting since 1976. I remember when I first started to vote, people would "rent" out their garage and have polls there. I guess that must have become a liability issue because shortly after it moved to school libraries, community halls, etc. The longest I waited to vote was for president back in 1996 and that was about 45 minutes. These past elections they have set up multiple places to go and vote and you don't have to be in your precinct to vote. You could go to anyone of them and they would print the appropriate ballot for you. It was also opened for about a month prior to the elections including weekends.

    Voter ID is critical for voter integrity. And cleaning up the voter rolls. I remember in the "old days" if you didn't vote in a general election your name was removed and you had to re-register if you wanted to vote in the next election.

    betty

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  8. Smart ideas. The longest i've waited was about 15 minutes, and that was because of the people who didn't know which of the four precinct tables to go to.

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  9. I'd be happier if my polling place was not in a church basement, because of the steps. But I'm pretty sure a poll worker could bring a ballot out to me if I was unable to hobble downstairs. 2016 was my longest wait. We had a big turnout. Took about 5 minutes in line.

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  10. i heard about fake voting but never saw someone close doing it ,i hardly vote anyway to be honest i will if someone will look reasonable ,same people again and again ,hubby does though .
    yes people had to for hours to vote here either
    i completely agree with what you suggested dear Joe

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