It's Much Too Easy to Vote

I voted the other day.

I didn’t want to vote early: I like going to the polls. But, I expect to be busy on Election Day this year, so I went down to the City Clerk’s office, and voted absentee.

It was a surprising experience. It was easy. Almost too easy.

After explaining what I wanted, I was handed an absentee ballot application. This took about a minute to fill out, and the clerk handed me a ballot. The voting booth was right there. My ballot went into an envelope, which I signed, and that was that.

Something was missing, and I knew what it was. I never had to prove my identity.

I should note that I live in Baraboo. This is a small town, where people get to know you. I knew the clerk, and she knew me. She didn’t need me to prove who I was.

And in fact, the law doesn’t require her to. If I understand the election rules, the only time ID of any kind is required is the first time you vote in a particular district.

Even when proof is required, a photo ID is only one of many options: a utility bill with your name and address on it is good enough for the law. If you haven’t got that, another voter can confirm your identity.

Here’s the scenario I’m considering: it’s Election Day. My wife and I pack up the kids, haul them to the polling place, and get in line to vote.

We reach the front of the line, give our names, and…we’ve already voted. Somebody has already cast a ballot, claiming to be me.

Now, in my case, this wouldn’t happen. All the little old ladies who work my polling place know me on sight. They would catch it, if somebody tried this.

Every place, though, isn’t like Baraboo. Some polling places deal with several times the number of voters mine does. And even in little towns, we shouldn’t depend on poll workers to visually recognize every single voter.

That’s particularly true, if the fraudulent vote is cast by absentee. Remember, unless it’s the first time a voter is voting in this district, ID is never required. It would take little effort to obtain dozens, or even hundreds of absentee ballots, fill them out, and use them.

Am I being paranoid? Perhaps. But I don’t think so. Reports of possible fraud are already piling up. I have little doubt that there are people both willing and able to pull this off.

And there’s only one way to fight it: make it harder to vote.

Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. Last year, the state legislature tried to require photo ID for every vote. Governor Doyle vetoed it. Here’s his explanation:

…approximately 123,000 Wisconsin residents of voting age do not have a valid DOT-issued driver's license or photo identification card. Nearly 70 percent of these individuals, or 85,000 Wisconsin residents, are elderly voters that would be disenfranchised by AB 111. Many others are young people, often students, who have never had a driver's license or valid Wisconsin photo identification card. Furthermore, many of the individuals who would be disenfranchised by this bill live in poverty, are members of minority communities, frequently change address, or are disabled. I will not sign into law a piece of legislation that would strip the right to vote away from the elderly, minorities, students, the disabled, the transient, and the poor.

A nice bit of rhetoric, sure, but missing one key piece of information: why don’t these people have an ID? Perhaps, because they haven’t needed one.

Can’t they go get one? For most of those 123,000, the answer is surely yes. Being elderly doesn’t make you incompetent. For the rest, well, considering the effort being put into voter registration this year, I’m sure rides to the appropriate office will be readily available.

In any case, requiring an ID doesn’t “strip the right to vote” from anyone, any more than it “strips the right” to rent a video.

In fact, it does the opposite. If your vote is stolen by a fraudulent absentee ballot, have you not been disenfranchised? If you vote for one candidate, and your vote is cancelled out by a fraudulent ballot for the other candidate, have you not been disenfranchised?

Yes, you have.

Voter fraud is a problem we’ll have to face, sooner or later, and there’s only one real way to do that: somehow, make it a little bit harder to vote.