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Wholesale - not retail - vote fraud

Cato-at-liberty » Voter Fraud and Other Political Facts The House bill to require photo ID for voting rests on the premise that voter fraud is a significant problem. It turns out that premise is a little shaky. A report prepared for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has found little evidence of polling-place fraud, according to USA Today.

The Commission on Federal Election Reform (Carter-Baker Commission) found “no evidence of extensive fraud in U.S. elections or of multiple voting,” though it does occur and could affect a close election. To inspire confidence in the system, the Commission recommended using the national ID card created by the REAL ID Act as a voter registration card. Proof of citizenship would be required to get a driver’s license, tightening government control of the citizenry just a little more."

Stealing enough individual votes is expensive and risky (too many people involved). Better to change the votes at one upstream point.

I volunteered to host and run the local polling place several years ago - in part to see how things worked, and in part to guarantee that at least the local part of the voting process was handled honestly. The thing is - once the votes leave my hands, I cannot offer any sort of guarantee as to what happens to the votes afterward.

Looked at as a system of security, the collection of votes is very vulnerable to subversion upstream. In any sort of system you want to be reliable, you want to look for and avoid single points of failure. Lacking any sort of checks and balances, the points where votes are collected in mass look most vulnerable.

We can do better, but that will take both the will and the right expertise.