Local embassy would be the obvious answer. Unless you’d prefer to leave them without a way to prove their identity. As happens now, in the link Shayna provided and now claims is a hijack.
Short answer is, all these problems would be solved with a robust system of voter id, and the fact that Shayna’s claiming it as a hijack shows her stupidity. Well, that and her fear that a legitimate election would see a republican win. Which shows she’s as partisan and idiotic as those she hates.
Shayna! Shame on you for promoting a scheme to harass, obstruct and impede Republican voters! We are not angry, of course, just very, very disappointed. Your status as Queen of the Jungle is hereby rescinded, you are now the Duchess of Hamster. Amend your escutcheon accordingly.
Not paying much attention here, are you?
How about leaving them without a *need *to?
And a robust load of handwaving. :rolleyes:
You need to take this democracy stuff a little more seriously, kiddo.
I think what brickers real gift is is the gift of semantic twisting.
It is clear that to an average person, a conspiracy is clearly taking place amongst GOP operatives in various places across the country to limit the amount of folks who would vote for Democrats.
But, while staying technically correct, counselor states that no conspiracy has taken place, because no illegal acts of voter suppression have actually occurred.
It doesn’t matter that the illegal acts won’t actually happen until the 6th. And he will loudly state at that point that those who took part in this conspiracy should be punished.
But the fact will still be that voting was suppressed, and that’s really all that matters. Some scapegoats will take the hit and pay fines and the GOP will pretend it never happened.
And hundreds, or possibly thousands, of people, will have been disenfranchised through the conspiracy, and nobody from the GOP will care, least of all bricker.
Joe Fallguy was fined, thus all is right in the world.
::Sniff::
Can I make it up to you by balancing the scales with this?
Department of Justice Investigating Alleged Ballot Fraud At Clackamas County Elections
Sources say election worker filled in ballots for Republican candidates
"A Clackamas County elections worker is under criminal investigation for tampering with ballots, WW has learned.
“The underlying allegation is that the woman, whose name has not been released, filled in blanks on ballots turned into the county for the Nov. 6 general election.”
Shayna, this is not a hijack.
You cannot – at least as I understand how this board works – start a thread and then demand it hew only to the aspects of the discussion that makes your side look good.
Of course, I welcome correction on this point from a moderator. But not from you.
Why, then, do polls – which presumably inquire of average people their opinions – overwhelmingly favor Voter ID laws?
That’s only obvious to those ignorant of geography and various other aspects of reality. The “local embassy” where I am takes quite a while to get to. Heck, it’s a FOUR TO FIVE HOUR train ride just to get to the provincial capital from my locale. Given that the Embassy takes both US and local holidays off, it’s even more obvious that a “quick run” to the embassy is possible only in the realm of pure fantasy.
Are there any polls that show the average American overwhelmingly supports using such laws to create a partisan advantage? Because that’s what we are talking about, here.
Were the Republican authors of this naive innocents? Having no idea that a partisan benefit might result? One worries about such men, are they carefully attended so that they are brought in out of the rain, or do they stand around outside, shivering in damp confusion?
The need already exists. Her signature on the vote doesn’t match the on on the registration. The existence of ID would allow her to verify her vote, and not be disenfranchised - you know, the whole problem people claim to have with it.
Yes, how dare I suggest a system that would allow someone’s vote to be counted. That’s terribly undemocratic of me.
One would almost think you had reason to be scared of people only voting if they had the right to, if one was cynical…
More scared of people not being allowed to vote if they have a right to. And of votes cast being changed or erased. Both of which are actually happening now.
Huh. I was in Texas a few weeks ago. I went because my friend is dying of brain cancer. (Stay with me, you’ll see in a minute.) One of the things I helped her with was her absentee ballot. She’s voting absentee because she’s at the point of needing hospice help and can’t really go to the polls anymore.
See, my friend is right-handed, but her whole right side doesn’t work anymore. So, she slowly read the ballot with her one working eye. And then cast her ballot with her left hand, signed it with her left hand.
Her signature definitely is NOT going to match the one on her registration.
Should her ballot be thrown out?
Or, since her signature will not match her registration, perhaps this cancer victim should be forced to go to her polling station and vote in person and show her ID?
Cuz, in an ironic twist, due to the chemo, she doesn’t even LOOK like her ID anymore! Guess she’s just shit out of of luck, huh.
A question just occurred to me that I’m a bit surprised hadn’t already. Does pretty much everybody have a “recognizable” signature? And how much less so for the snot-nosed punk generation? I know any number of keyboard commandos who are intelligent, articulate, and knowledgeable but who’s handwriting is for shit. Are their signatures essentially reproductions of each other, like my father’s generation?
Not entirely. She has a friend.
This tangent was sparked by the problem of someone being prevented from voting, and suggestions how they could prove that they were who they said they were, if a signature wouldn’t suffice. Cheap, easily obtainable, universal ID would mitigate these problems to a large extent.
That’s an extremely difficult situation. I can’t think of a solution that’s both easy for your friend, and that would meet the current standard of requiring a signature on the ballot paper, unless someone else (such as you, or a family member) has the right to sign for her. That would probably need to have been established before she became unable to sign herself, similar to power of attorney.
The only other options would be for a doctor to sign to say she’s unable to sign for herself, which would be time consuming and possibly expensive, or to not require a signature at all, which makes fraud possible.
I can only speak for myself, but my signature’s got worse over the last 20 years or so, as I find myself writing less and, especially, signing far less.
That proves…well, it proves exactly nothing. People’s signatures change over time. And I really don’t see any elections office spending the time or money necessary to have an actual qualified handwriting analyst (as opposed to those woo-woo freaks who say, “Oh, your dots on the ‘i’ show that you have the best business mind in history; surely, you will be wealthy; that’ll be $500 now please; cash, no checks.”) to compare the thousands and thousands of votes involved with absentee ballots. Heck, I don’t think there are even enough qualified handwriting analysts for what they’re actually useful for right now (document fraud, run-of-the-mill criminal investigations like murder, etc.).
So how do you suggest absentee ballots are verified? Or do you think they should all be taken on trust? It seems voter ID is unacceptable, and both sides have been shown to be involved in fraud, so what’s your suggestion?
I’ll point out again that I’m suggesting that discarding votes because signatures don’t match is a BAD THING, and suggesting solutions.
Voters whose ballots are discarded should be notified and given the opportunity to swear an oath in person that the ballot is actually theirs. Simple.
John Husted, Att Gen of Ohio, doing everything he can to ensure Romney takes Ohio. If the name is familiar to you, you most likely know the history of this sordid story. This is just his latest effort, the cherry on top of the turd sundae.
From our comrades at ThinkProgress:
The Katherine Harris of Ohio. Using the power of his office to do anything…anything!..he can do to bugger the election. Surely, in all of Ohio, there must be some honest conservatives to speak out about this shit. There must be some honor left, somewhere, some shred of dignity.
Maybe I take this stuff too serious. Should be just pissed off instead of heartsick. Can’t help it.
In person, huh? And how do you expect to work that for an American ciizen overseas who is far away from any US government office such as, say, a consulate that is hours away? Who’s going to be the government agent observing the oath? When will this event take place? Where will it take place?