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| Authored by: kuroshima on Thursday, June 27 2013 @ 02:39 AM EDT |
I don't have direct knowledge of how things work in the USA,
but I can give you knowledge of how they work here in Spain:
Here everyone has an ID. As far as I know there are 3 main
possibilities (there may be more, but if they exist, I don't
know about them), the DNIe (Documento Nacional de Identidad
electrónico => electronic National ID Document), the passport
and the driver's license. Of notable interest is the DNIe, as
it is both a photo ID and a smartcard housing cryptographic
keys allowing you to both identify yourself and digitally sign
and encrypt your communications with the state. You are
required by law to possess at least the DNI (old ones are just
photo IDs, new ones include the electronic part), with the
others being optional. When dealing with the state
bureaucracy, you're required to produce one valid ID to prove
that you are who you say you are. Also, banks require them for
opening accounts, giving loans, etc. To both register to vote
and at the polling station, you're required to produce an ID.
However we do not use electronic voting machines. You vote
using a paper ballot in an envelope, that is later hand
counted. The of stations are manned by 3 randomly selected
citizens (1 president and 2 assistants), who handle
everything, and overseen by at least two representatives of
different political parties.
Despite the checks and balances of the system, people try to
game the system. I have served as the president of a polling
station. I have seen people try to vote twice, vote in polling
stations where they are not registered to vote, and bring
seniors who were simple puppets in their hands (seniors can
request transportation to the polling station from the
authorities, but during the actual voting, they need to be
lucid enough to say their own name and give their ballots by
their their own hand). I believe I caught all the voting fraud
attempts. I know that they would have altered the results by a
significant amount if I had not. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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