Posted on 10/17/2004 11:39:59 AM PDT by olderandwiser
On today's Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace interviewed L. Kenneth Blackwell, secretary of State of Ohio, and Eric Holder from the DNC. On the subject of "provisional ballots" and in the context of the recent Federal Court ruling that a provisional ballot must be accepted anywhere in a voter's county Wallace asks Blackwell, "What's wrong with that?"
I was disappointed with Blackwell's response and it seems to me that too many have failed to understand that elections are about more than the United States Presidency: as a federal republic, we're organized around states and these fall elections are about more than the presidency. So, you might be able to capture a voter's presidential vote from anywhere in a county but what about local offices and issues?
Imagine that I'm a resident of City A and show up to vote at a precinct in City B. I cast a provisional ballot recording my vote for president, congressman, county sheriff, mayor, city council and municipal judge and a local tax issue. Later, somehow, the election officials get my provisional ballot over to the correct precinct in City A.
What do the election officials in City A do with my ballot? They can record my vote for president and county sheriff but, if City A is in a different congressional district, what do they do with my vote for the wrong congressional candidate? Or mayor? Or on the tax issue? Don't my votes for candidates and issues that are not on my local precinct ballot simply need to be thrown away? Would anybody advocate having the election official try to discern my intent (like if I voted in favor of taxes in City B they should record a Yes vote on a City A tax question; or if I voted for the Democrat candidate in the 3rd Congressional District they'll take that as a vote for the Democrat in my home 4th District)? Anybody remember pregnant chads?
In other words, by showing up at the wrong precinct, I will have lost my opportunity to vote for my actual congressional candidate and for local candidates and issues.
Bottom line: if the Democrats were genuinely interested in making sure that every vote counts, they'd support efforts to get voters to the right precinct so that all their votes will count instead of focusing on the presidential contest.
Anyway, that's what I think.
Yeah, I agree. PV seems like a real bad idea.
I agree. But I wonder what authority a Federal judge has over a State's adminsitration of the elections? Does the judges directive have any merit?
Provisional voting is a fine idea for cases where someone has shown up at the right precinct and, through no fault of the voter, the person's registration cannot be confirmed. The act of showing up at the wrong precinct, however, would be presumed to be the fault of the voter unless the voter showed an official card instructing them where to vote [if the election officials mail someone a card instructing them to vote at the wrong precinct, that should not prevent them from voting].
There is something really wrong with "provisional ballots;" it sounds almost unconstitutional.
THis is assinine. Why not just allow elections ot happen over a month-long period? Why not allow illegal aliens to vote? Why not allow voting from any state?
This is STUPID. Those judges are idiots.
With each day, there is less and less responsibility on the part of voters. No ID's, no nothing. It's absurd. The right to vote is inextricably accompanied by a mininmum threshold of responsibility. If you cannot get your butt to the proper precinct, you should NOT be allowed to vote. There need not be a protected group of stupid irresonsible people.
When you get stopped by a cop outside of your county, can you show him or her your "Provisional" driver's license? Can you show a "provisional" passport at US borders?
Give me a damn break.
dims want every vote to count. Pubbies want every LEGAL vote to count.
You know what? In the last election, after waiting in line at my normal rec center polling site to get my ballot, I was informed that my polling place had changed to the local elementary school(further from my house, yet I had to pass this one to get there). Guess what I did! I didn't complain or raise a stink, I went to the school, waited in line again and cast my vote. Pretty darn simple!
I have been wondering, wouldn't a provisional ballot necessarily mean that the voter is NOT casting an anonymous vote? How many would then scream about an 'invasion of privacy' or some such nonsense?
Every provisional vote would have to be identified by voter so as to be able to verify that one was not voting twice. Would the voter, in identifying onesself on the PB, also have to list which is the correct precinct so his vote could be correctly cast? If so, the why not go there in the first place?
Good point.
I worked the polls for Ohio in last years primary election, we were instructed to give anybody who drove up to the polls a provisional ballot who asked for one. We were to assume they were who they said they were and lived in the precient. Working outside we had no way of knowing the truth.
For every false registration that has been turned in, we now have this senerio. Assuming that person was not brain dead has made a copy of every false name he turned in, can now drive up to any pollingplace in the city and ask for a ballot under xx names. Workers in our area changed every 4 hours allowing them to come to the same place every 4 hours and never run into the same poll worker
And we have now determined the Democrat plan of action.
Obviously the democrats are interested in making every vote count, every provisionsal vote that is, especially if the voters in question happen to visit and vote in several precincts. What are the realistic chances that all duplicate provisional votes will be caught and discounted? The democrats are counting on this and will attempt to defraud their way to victory. In every instance these people should be arrested and sentenced to hard prison time. Multiple votes should add increased penalties. Non-citizens should do jail time and then be deported along with their families. The Supreme Court should step in and stop this fraud before it begins. We need a National Voter ID Card with a photo, fingerprint, hologram and/or biometric data that can be tracked in a national databank to ensure that no one can vote more than once anywhere. Solid proof of citizenship MUST be required to obtain one of these cards. Otherwise we will be facing one voter fraud scheme after another.
Entirely reasonable. Please note that Rats do not intend to allow you to vote on anything. Rat liberal socialist judges will decide what is law and shove it down your throat. They only want you to vote nationally because they haven't got enough judges in position in SCOTUS yet. When they do SCOTUS will tell you how you voted, and there will be no point in your going to the polls. Just think of the money we'll save.
Of course I mean other than common sense, such as if you show up at the wrong place, GET DIRECTIONS. People that dumb or lazy should not vote. So of course I'm talking about the voter fraud angle. What exactly about it is supposed to make it easier to commit fraud ?
Eric Holder said that it would be fine if votes were cast on toilet paper.
The biggest risk, IMHO, is that provisional voters provide an "excuse" for votes to appear after counting is complete.
If you do decide to do this, make sure you make snide anti-Bush comments in line and wear a Kedwards sticker. That way, the Rats will allow you to vote without raising a question. The Republicans who work the polls are too afraid of being called a bigot by the Dems to do anything about voter fraud.
Wait until some dem attorneys sue to get provisional ballots counted EVEN THOUGH THE VOTER IS NOT REGISTERED!!! I can hear them now. "These voters took the time and effort to show up and vote, their votes should be counted even though they are not yet registered. If they are ELIGIBLE , they should be allowed to cast a vote." I guarantee this will happen somewhere.
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