WRAL has obtained an “analysis” by the State Board of Elections that concludes there are more than 1 million voters in NC that “don’t have a driver’s license or photo ID issued by the Division of Motor Vehicles.” Since WRAL did not offer up the analysis (I hope they will soon) we can only guess where the State Board of Elections came up with this information.
Since the information provided by the State Board included political party information –
“The analysis shows that 508,000 registered Democrats, 277,000 Republicans and 219,000 unaffiliated voters lack a driver’s license. About two-thirds of those without a license are women, and about two-thirds are white, the analysis shows. The breakdown is fairly even across age groups.”
I can only assume they are analyzing the data in the statewide voter registration database
This database contains just about 6 million voters.
Of the 6 million voters on the rolls almost 500,000, at any given time, are “inactive.” Inactive voters are voters who have had voter cards returned to the boards of elections as “undeliverable” – the voters have moved or died – but the Board of Elections doesn’t really know.
In the same database there are over 20,000 voters who appear to be 110 years old. And, as everyone who has ever looked at the voter data knows – there are countless duplicate voter registrations and voters who have died still on the books.
So, who and what are we to believe? We must see the analysis from the Board of Elections and get some answers as to its credibility before we come to any conclusions. But, we can believe that the Voter ID issue will highlight the close working relationship of the liberal/progressive groups (including the State Board of Elections) and the mainstream media who are more than willing to repeat all their talking points without asking any questions – just as they did in this article.
Bravo! Bravo! Telling it like it is. North Carolina BOE needs a COMPLETE overhaul, which we will not be able to complete until 2012 when Perdue is removed from office. Strides can be made by our present legislature by passing bills for Photo Voter ID and doing away with “One Stop Voting”.
1) Does it really matter if there are dead people or wrong ages on the registry if people can’t/don’t vote multiple times? I’ve seen no evidence this is happening on any significant scale. Show me it’s a real problem and I’ll jump right aboard. The problems which do exist, voter ID wouldn’t help. A better strategy would be transparency and clear vote-counting rules at the SBOE.
2) (for Donna) I don’t see the need for voter ID, but I can understand it in theory. But why would you do away with one-stop voting? That has no connection to voting integrity, and just sounds like you want to make voting harder. For my part, I love the idea, and will continue to vote one-stop as long as it’s an option.
OK Harrison Bergeron, I have to know – what problems do you think exist? What are vote counting rules and what would make them more clear? You say you haven’t seen evidence of voter impersonation on a significant scale – where and when have you seen it?
The problems I’ve seen have been related to counting and recounting – the discretion given to vote counters on write-ins (which was important in the Murkowski race in Alaska, for example), or on ballots which mark a straight party box plus other things. Not to mention how often large numbers of votes are “found” after a recount.
Voter ID doesn’t address voter intent at all though, and if it has any connection to recount conduct, it’s very indirect. It places the burden on the voter for SBOE failures, and that for not much benefit. You ask where I’ve seen evidence of voter impersonation on a significant scale – I haven’t, and that’s the point. If it were really going on at such a wide scale, where is the story? Is the Liberal Media turning a blind eye, or is it all conjecture?
Procedural problems are disconcerting, but hopefully they do not indicate fraud – only a need for better administration of the process.
You said you hadn’t seen voter impersonation on a significant scale – implying that you had seen it at a lesser degree. The argument that this type of fraud doesn’t exist because people don’t see evidence is silly – fraud is meant to go undetected.
To your question as to what does it matter if dead people are on the rolls as long as they don’t vote multiple times? If a dead person votes – he is not voting multiple times.
New question to you – if the next time you walk into the polling place to vote and you state your name and address and the poll worker tells you that you have already voted (and you have not), will the this problem become significant to you? This happens to voters in every election – whether it is due to fraud or not, a voter ID could help if not eliminate this situation.
One time I could maybe chalk up to my own error, but two times, you’re definitely deleting my comment. I take it I win then? Like I said last time, I stand by my points; apparently yours don’t stand the scrutiny.
Luckily I saved my comment this time so I don’t have to retype it:
Everything has to be weighed by its costs and benefits. There is no reason to institute a whole new government voter ID program based on what you seem to be admitting is pure conjecture [your second paragraph]. It tackles at great cost problems we may or may not have, and doesn’t address the problems we know we have.
As for your new question, show me that this (or anything voter ID addresses) is a major problem in North Carolina. Searching for examples only returns procedural problems (e.g. faulty e-voting machines) which voter ID wouldn’t address. I have seen no studies on real voter fraud in North Carolina, no news coverage, no numbers at all – only vague fearmongering by the very people who should be questioning the costs and benefits of new government programs.
So, do you care to address me this time, or are you going to delete me and go on pretending there’s a real case for voter ID?