It’s Time for Vote Reform
Law, National Politics, Texas Politics Comments (5)
In 1948 Lyndon Baines Johnson’s political career was revived by a “lost” ballot box which put him 58 votes over popular Governor Coke Stevenson in that year’s Senate race. The Miami Herald won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for uncovering how “vote brokers” employed by candidate Xavier Suarez stole a mayoral election by tampering with 4,740 absentee ballots. In 2004, Representative Ciro Rodriguez charged a missing ballot box appeared in south Texas during a primary recount with enough votes to make his opponent the Democratic nominee by 58 votes and Democrat Christine Gregoire wins the Washington state gubernatorial election by 110 votes based, in large part, on 723 “lost” votes in King County. Some 56 years after LBJ stole an election through ballot fraud, it’s time for enough vote security reform that will prevent these mass ballot problems.
As a former election judge here in Texas I can talk about our system. In order to vote in Texas you must have and present a voter’s registration card, which may or may not be stamped with “voted” when presented for voting. If it is your first time to vote, you are also supposed to present a form of photo identification. If you forget your registration card, then you can present some other form of identification. Suggested forms include: your driver’s license, birth certificate, or a copy of your electric bill. Voting on the strength of something as easily forged as an electric bill (and the documents I received as an election judge stated it more broadly as an “utility bill”) creates a situtation ripe for fraud.
We need to start off with more stringent voter identification requirements. Knowing where all of the votes are is no good when a good number of those ballots could be fraudulent. The method of voter identification used by Mexico in their federal elections provides a good example to be followed. In the introduction to Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy, John Fund describes the Mexican system:
To obtain voter credentials, the citizen must present a photo, write a signature and give a thumbprint. The voter card includes a picture with a hologram covering it, a magnetic strip and a serial number to guard against tampering. To cast a ballot, voters must present the card and be certified by a thumbprint scanner.
To use such a system would mean tying the scanner into a central database. Such a system would prevent voter fraud by denying the opportunity for people to vote multiple times. Once they have voted, it is important that they be provided with a way to carry with them a verification of the ballot cast if they desire it. That should mean that a receipt is issued to each and every voter when they cast their ballot. For electronic voting systems the proposed receipting system will be more than sufficient. For those of us still using optical scanners then election officials should offer them the opportunity to recieve a counterfeit-resistant, printed receipt upon which they may also record their ballot ID number.
Once the ballot is cast, it is important that no ballot get left behind. Vote repositories must be centralized, well guarded, and catalogued. They need to be treated with the same chain of custody arrangements as police evidence lockers. Every tray or ballot box should be locked when not in use with written check-in, location, and check-out procedures. No longer should it be true that “election workers, along with observers from the political parties, [should] search the locked cage inside the warehouse” for ballots as happened in Washington and reported by Fox News.
But, would such a system ever be adopted? Likely not. As long as people like DNC spokeswoman Maria Cardona are around. According to Ms. Cardona, “Ballot security and preventing voter fraud are just code words for voter intimidation and suppression.” It’s a stupid position to say that Mexico has designed its system, which allowed for the first non-PRI government in 70 years, was designed with voter intimidation and suppression in mind.
And until such sane measures are in place, we will continue to see stories of doubtful votes and elections.
MickC @ December 24, 2004