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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Ind. Law - "Problem No. 1 with the state’s absentee voting system is that people casting such a ballot by mail are not required to show a photo ID"
That is a quote from a long editorial Oct. 26th in the New Albany News & Tribune. It begins:
SOUTHERN INDIANA — Rules and laws are used and manipulated every day and everywhere to gain an advantage — in boardrooms, on athletic fields, in law in front of judges and beyond.It becomes a big problem when bad rules lead to behavior that might be legal, but still isn’t exactly seen as fair.
At the top of that list are Indiana’s absentee ballot and voter laws, which are structured in a way that makes unethical behavior — or even corruption — much easier than conventional voting. The possibilities are nearly endless — suggesting ways to vote; campaigning while soliciting people to vote absentee; vote-buying; or election mail fraud.
Problem No. 1 with the state’s absentee voting system is that people casting such a ballot by mail are not required to show a photo ID. That’s right — Hoosiers who physically make it to the polls must show a photo ID to vote, but not those already cloaked in some anonymity by voting from a home or office, where election workers aren’t present.
It’s inexcusable that voters by mail aren’t required to send at least a copy of their photo ID.
Another loophole is the exemptions to allow for voting absentee-by-mail. One is simply that you can vote absentee-by-mail if you are 65 or older, as if everyone of that age is incapable of getting to the polls.
Another exemption reads: “You have a specific, reasonable expectation that you will be absent from the county on Election Day during the entire 12 hours that the polls are open.”
That seems to be the popular one, since it’s vague and impossible to verify for the 3,000 or so absentee ballots that have been so far cast in Clark County this election cycle — and potentially prosecute those who break the law. That’s about three times the amount of absentee tallies counted in the last municipal election in the county in 2007 — one flush with controversy over absentee ballots. A special prosecutor didn’t find enough evidence to file charges then, but did say he was “bothered by a few things” found in the investigation.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 27, 2011 10:08 AM
Posted to Indiana Law