But also in MA, the voting process looks you up in a list of street addresses before AND after you've marked up your ballot. Fake voting would mean you'd have to plan out in advance who you are impersonating, go stand in line -- and hope like hell the real person either hasn't already come in, or comes in after, because the nice little ladies manning the lists are going to notice.
You could try to impersonate the recently dead, but you'll have to hope the rolls haven't already been updated.
And of course, you'd have to be able to get enough impostors to go around to dozens of polling places (Not more than once PER, because eagle-eyed poll workers might just notice if you come in twice.)
While theoretically possible to steal an election this way, the practical aspects of doing it is actually the best protection it has.
Yes, and in Brooklyn they ask for ID as well (mainly just to avoid asking "How do you spell that?" a million times a day).
They ask for ID at my local place and it irritates me because they're not supposed to.
But despite all this, there is virtually no evidence of any significant fraud at the point of voting, anywhere.
In both NC and GA, I personally knew one or more of the precinct workers at my voting location, so I couldn't have impersonated anyone very easily! In NC my landlady/next door neighbor was the precinct captain, and in GA we voted in my kids' school gym.
I miss living in a community where I know people. I know that freaks some people out, but I love knowing my neighbors and shit like that.
In Washington, all voting is absentee by mail, now. So anyone could jack my ballot from the mailbox and fill it out as me! But they'd have to get into the mail on the right day, fill it out, buy a stamp...
Also why I feel secure voting in MA, we have a Scantron ballot system, so you fill out a paper ballot by shading in circles, then it gets fed into a networked counting device and then the paper ballot goes into a lockbox, so if there's election count issues, they can recount accurately.
In Washington, all voting is absentee by mail, now. So anyone could jack my ballot from the mailbox and fill it out as me! But they'd have to get into the mail on the right day, fill it out, buy a stamp...
Really, what anyone could do (per the guy on Fresh Air recently) is go to, say, a nursing home, and "help" all of the residents fill out their ballots.
I need to hire someone to make decisions for me. I feel incapable of deciding anything lately.
Really, what anyone could do (per the guy on Fresh Air recently) is go to, say, a nursing home, and "help" all of the residents fill out their ballots.
Even in 2000, you would have had to do that in EVERY nursing home in the disputed counties to actually change the election results. And you'd have to hope that none of the staff was watching over your shoulder either.
