by Peter Panepento
I received a pair of phone calls on behalf of one of the major-party candidates encouraging me to vote on Tuesday at my former polling place in Millcreek Township.
Never mind that I’ve lived in Maryland for more than two years and voted here as recently as this year’s primary.
If I were to show up at the First Alliance Church tomorrow, it looks like I would easily be able to cast a ballot in Pennsylvania.
And since Pennsylvania is a much more hotly contested state than Maryland, there could actually be motivation to do so (if I was only up for that 6-hour drive).
This leads me to ask the question — do the parties work from lists of registered current voters when they make their robo-calls?
If I am, indeed, registered to vote in two states, I have to believe that this is not uncommon.
A possible solution? Make the voter registration database national — rather than having it done on the state level. Issue each voter a bar code and make sure that code can only be scanned in the voter’s true home district.
After more than six years working as a journalist in Erie, I'm now the web editor for the Chronicle of Philanthropy in Washington, D.C., and the publisher of GlobalErie.com. I still maintain close ties to Erie - a community that I care about deeply. I hope this Web site can help inspire a better future for Erie.
Dale
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:39 am
When I vote in North East, I do so on the latest computer machines.
In order to get into the booth, however, I still have to pass through the line of little old ladies sitting at a table, checking their huge old books to verify my right to vote. All entries are handwritten. Are we to believe that anyone actually checks out the timely accuracy of those books each election period?
The time is here to create a computerized national database, as Peter said. Enter the booth, swipe your card, if it’s ok you vote. Done. and almost that fast. We could even carry it further by allowing secure on-line voting at home.
Jim
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
I believe that in Pennsylvania, ever since the passage of the motor/voter bill, we have changed the voter registration system, where we are no longer doing regular purges of the registration books, nor do we require any proof identification nor address. I understand that some polling places, however ask for voluntary ID to aid them in locating the registration card in their book.
As with much else in this country, we have corrupted the voter system through non purging of dead, relocated, and non active voters. We have weakened the registration system through such legislation as the motor voter law, and authorization of such organizations as ACORN to be involved in the process, tolerated practices like in Philadelphia, where voting machines arrived at polling places with several thousand votes already cast, allowed activist lawyers and liberal court judges to legitimize park benches as legal residences, encouraged prisoner registrations and absentee voting, disenfranchised military voters, empowered an activist media, and on and on to the point I no longer have any confidence in the system, and even less in the courts ability to insure any sense of fairness.
When the media celebrates a candidate for president’s thought that the constitution is an impediment to his idea of change, and no one cares this country as we once knew it, is over.
TonyF
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
I know Peter likes to keep this blog high quality and positive. And, for the most part, it certainly is. It is refreshing to read thoughts and ideas that are well-written and positive. Jim’s post is well-written and I agree with it 100%. Maybe we can keep it positive by hoping that what Jim describes is only a fleeting moment and will pass once level-headed leaders are returned to office so that they can keep this country the way our founding fathers intended it to be.
wow
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Jim/TonyF, you really believe Obama is the politician on the scene most guilty of defying the constitution? You really believe that if Obama wins Pennsylvania it is because of voter fraud and not because the majority of Pennsylvanians actually voted for him? Really?
I’m not at all insinuating you don’t have a good reason to vote for McCain, and indeed I count many friends who are doing that as well. But none of them believe that, should he lose, it’s not because Obama won fair and square, but because the “motor voter law,” homeless voting, disenfranchised military voters and ACORN will have stolen it from him. The margins simply appear to be too great for any of the factors you cite to explain it. This is a groundswell, not a theft of the presidency.
At least read this and try to understand why a majority of legally registered, law-abiding voters appear set to willingly vote for Obama. From one of my favorite conservative writers: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/barack-obama-fo.html
Katie Rennie
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I’m pretty sure I’m registered to vote in two states as well. I went to college in Cleveland, OH and have been registered there since 2004, and now that I am back in Erie, I’ve registered here for the 2008 election. And like yourself, I think I could, without problems, vote here in PA, and then go across the border to Cleveland (abt 2 hrs) and vote there as well. If I felt like wasting all that gas, or was more inspired by either candidate, I might try it (well, also if I could learn to not freak out about breaking the law, which probably isn’t possible for me).
TheMadLibs
November 4th, 2008 at 2:56 am
I have a difficult time totally believing this flaw in that, since moving to Pasadena, CA in 2006 I’ve now 2x received letters from the Erie County Board of Elections asking if I’ve moved and to remove me from the system. I wrote back and said yes. I’ve not heard more, and assume this is accurate. Maybe I’m just being positive this one time. I should by a red-eye ticket tonight - my absentee ballot is already in for a non-swing state.
TonyF
November 4th, 2008 at 10:32 am
wow,
“Do you really believe Obama is the politician on the scene most guilty of defying the constitution?” No, but I do believe ” the media celebrates a candidate for president who thinks that the constitution is an impediment to his idea of change”. The president swears to “uphold the Constitution of the United States”. Obama feels the Constitution is an impediment to the way he thinks things ought to be.
If Obama wins Pennsylvania, voter fraud won’t be the reason but it will contribute…. I don’t have any idea to what extent.
Steve
November 4th, 2008 at 10:54 am
isn’t voter fraud what elected George W?
Jim
November 4th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Tony, go to http://www.grassrootspa.com and check out what is happening in Philadelphia, after what happened in 2004. Pa. is run by democrats, as is the city of Philadelphia.
TonyF
November 4th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Jim, thanks for the link. I read the GOP ousting in Philly on Drudge. I agree with you that PA is run by Democrats. I hope someone can prove the extent of the voter fraud. ACORN is certainly a prime example.
Steve, voter fraud didn’t elect W. The people did, thank God.