Dead Man Voting

" The probe....found at least another 100 cases in which people voted twice, or used fake names,... or the names of dead people to vote." (1)

Vote fraud has probably been going on as long as voting, but the people of Milwaukee and Wisconsin have believed for many years that it does not happen here. The facts recently uncovered by both the Journal Sentinel and a joint federal-state investigation show that nowadays vote fraud is a serious problem here. The honesty of Wisconsin elections in past was dependent upon the honesty of our people: election clerks, registrars, poll-workers, and the voters themselves. The laws were designed for a type of "honor system" in which the word of a Wisconsin voter about his or her address or eligibility was accepted without verification. Just as other crimes in this state have increased in recent decades, we must recognize that vote fraud has risen as well.

What are the vulnerabilities of our system, and what can be done to make it more secure?

1. Same Day Registration
New registrants can vote before authorities have any time to verify their address or status. Requiring a minimum of 30 days between registration and voting will enable the State El;ections Commission to run a computerized cross-check of registrations to make sure that no one is registered at two addresses for the same election. Local authorities can also verify that addresses given actually exist, that people actually live there, and that the number of registered voters does not exceeed the legal capacity of the building.

2. Deputy Registrars
Any voter in the City of Milwaukee can sign-up as a deputy registrar and start registering voters. On May 11 two such people were charged with filing dozens of phony registrations. Given that groups like Project Vote hire people to register voters and pay $1.75 per card filed, the temptation to file phony cards is overwhelming(1).
The only way to stop this abuse is to limit deputy registrars to nursing home administrators and city employees such as Election Commission personnel, librarians, police officers, fire-fighters, etc. New voters would have to stop at the nearest library or police or fire station to register, except that disabled people could call for an in-home registration by Election Commission staff.

3. Absentee Ballots
Voters receiving absentee ballots can sell them or mark them in the presence of someone else who has paid for their vote. This actually was done in connection with the attempt to recall County Board Chairman Lee Holloway (5th District), and several people were convicted and jailed for it. As long as absentee voting is allowed, and it must be to permit disabled people to participate in elections, the possibility of bribery will exist.

4. Voter Identification
New voters must produce proof of idenification or be identified by another voter in the same city (2). The Legislature passed a bill in April that would require a photo ID for all voters, but Governor Jim Doyle vetoed it. The photo requirement could trip-up some people trying to vote under the name of another registered voter, but this type of vote-fraud is very, very rare. An impostor takes the risk that the poll-worker might know the real voter on sight, and notify the police-officer assigned to the polling place. Also the real voter might have already voted, or might show up at the same time. (Unless the faker uses the name of a dead voter---see below.)

5. Votes for the Dead?
Dead voters should be purged from the voting lists. To do this, simply require that a copy of every death certificate (when the deceased is over 18 years of age) be sent to the Election Commission of the city or village shown as the decedent's last address.

6. Will vote-security measures reduce the Democratic vote?
Yes, because some voters would find it too much trouble to make a special trip to register, or to obtain a photo-ID (which they do not need otherwise). Middle and upper class people, who tend to vote Republican, are more likely to have a driver's license and stay at the same address for longer periods. As a result, vote-security measures would be less burdensome on them than on poorer and more transient people, who are more likely
to vote Democratic.

7. Should registering and voting be made as easy as possible?
Until 1920 women (in most states) were denied the right to vote. Black men have had the legal right to vote since 1866, but numerous legal obstacles (3) plus Klan-style violence kept Southern blacks from voting for the next hundred years. Those who struggled for the right to vote had to endure arrests, job-losses, and beatings. In view of these sacrifices, expecting people to stop off at the library to register is no big deal.

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(1)"Arrests sought in election fraud". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 12, 2005.
(2) Milwaukee Election Inspectors Booklet, page 24. Acceptable forms of identification include credit cards, library cards, college ID's, and utility bills.
(3) Some states used a combination of unfair literacy tests, poll-taxes, and "grandfather clauses" to keep blacks from registering. Others used "white primaries."