Anti-fraud reform: Simultaneous release of county vote totals (so Dems can't manufacture votes)

churchillbuff ^ | Nov. 7, 02 | churchillbuff

[churchillbuff]

In South Dakota, as so often happens in close elections, a Dem-leaning county reported late, at the very end of the counting -- and miraculously provided enough votes to reverse the lead of the GOP candidate (Thune, in this case). No guarantee there was fraud here, but it smells - it smells like they were waiting till the end to see how many votes had to be "produced" . How stop even the appearance of such shenanigans? A state law that says overall vote totals will be KEPT SECRET until ALL COUNTIES HAVE TURNED THEIR INDIVIDUAL TALLIES INTO THE SECRETARY OF STATE. Then, an OVERALL COUNT WOULD BE RELEASED AT ONCE. Yes, it would mean everyone would have to wait to learn who won - and would take the "horse race" excitement out of election night - but it would rob any thieving politicos of the chance to hold their "votes" back until they learned how many were needed to "win." GOP-RULED STATE LEGISLATURES SHOULD CONSIDER THIS REFORM TO HELP TAKE A BITE OUT OF CRIME - ELECTION CRIME, THAT IS.

[supercat]

Actually, what I'd like to see would be for each district to compose its election results into a PGP message, have all party representatives sign it, and immediately publish the signature (but not the message). Once all the signatures have been collected, then publish all the signed messages.

This would ensure that the vote tallies were "locked in stone" before they were revealed.

[churchillbuff]

Interesting idea.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I would like each political party permission to observe and camcorder the vote counters.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

What would really be kool is the option of somehow monitoring the vote counters covertly. A simple idea: a president could pardon any volunteer snoops who use monitor devices. But his pardons must be bi-partizan, perfectly fair. Note I'm trying to think of non-government oversight. Just private citizens who aren't controlled by the govt.

[wastoute]

How's this, we take all these elections where the precincts have held out to last and miraculously produce a 103% turnout of voters that puts their candidate over the top and we shove burning bamboo under their fingernails til one confesses. Works for me. Sure as hell would put an end to it. Lots less complicated.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yes, that's something we've recommended before.

Wish we could get a Congressional hearing on vote fraud to bring these type of recommendations up.

One-time Voter Registration card:

Id by photo & address. (Or clear fingerprint (NOT scan-print fingerprint "code") on the back. This way ONLY ONE voter per card is assured.)

Several Rows of boxes on the bottom: Year:[Pri][RO]/[Main][RO][Spcl][Spcl]

When the voter gets to the precinct, he/she gets the [box] physically punched through. Can't vote twice in same election. If a runoff is needed, you get the [RO] box stamped.

---...---...---

Change voting day to first Saturday in November to free up more (honest = non-union) people who can monitor polls.

---...---...

Require (before a federal election) that hte resigration lists be purged one month prior to elction of ALLL dead, prisoners, and moved people.

(Allow day-of-voting registration, IF a fingerprint is taken of the voter, and an address is provided, and ballot kept separate until the id is verified as non-duplicated.

If it was a fraud attempt, arrest the criminal.)

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Yes, it would mean everyone would have to wait to learn who won - and would take the "horse race" excitement out of election night

There is a difference between

"the public interest" and "what the public is interested in".

Why Broadcast Journalism is Unnecessary and Illegitimate.

[Dems_R_Losers]

No precinct should have more than 200 voters in it. This would make elections a lot more costly but a hell of a lot harder to steal. It may be easy to find five crooked election officials, but it's a lot harder to find 25. This would also make it well nigh impossible for the Rats to whine about long lines turning people away and necessitating lawsuits to keep the polls open late.

Also everyone should have to mark a voter sheet with a thumb print using indelible ink. This will ensure nobody votes twice. Many other countries do this.

It should be a felony to pay anyone for registering voters, collecting absentee ballot applications, collecting signatures on ballot petitions, monitoring polling places, or anything other than campaigning for a candidate. I agree that elections should take place on a Saturday and Election Day should be our one true national holiday when everything closes, even the gas stations and 7-11s. Then nobody would have an excuse for not voting, and we would not have to pay election workers and could get more nonpartisan professionals to volunteer to work at the polls.

[Bubba_Leroy]

That's not fair. How will they know how many lost votes they need to find if they don't get to hear the results from the other counties first?

[Tall_Texan]

Nice idea. But why wait? Pass a law where the each precinct election judge has one hour from the time the poll closes to report the total number of voters (no breakdown, just grand total). The County Elections Supervisor then has one hour to report this information to the state. The state then has one hour to report this information to the media. That means if polls close by, say, 8 p.m., the media has a final total of votes cast by 11 p.m. Then we can wait for the actual results to come in and see if it matches the raw vote total. If it doesn't, suspicions are automatically raised.

Three hours is not an unreasonable amount of time to gather this information and have it announced. It would surely stop the "last box" shenanigans that gave LBJ his first senate victory and for which places like St. Louis, Detroit and Chicago are notorious for.

I also like what I read about Alabama. A month or so before the election, mail a card to every registered voter. When the post office returns some with "no such address" or "addressee moved", scrub the registrant from the voter rolls. It serves as both a public reminder to register/vote and quietly keeps the registered voter lists from being littered with bad names/addresses. Cool.

[demosthenes the elder]

personally, I would like to see such laws at state and federal levels. I have long believed that media reportage of ongoing polling "estimates" and "returns" have had an unhealthy effect on the electoral process.
6PM the NEXT DAY is more than soon enough to learn the count.