Which of these is a bigger issue for voting in America?

[knapplc]

A couple of the biggest election-day issues this past cycle were Voter Fraud and Voter Disenfranchisement. We've discussed both here, so I was wondering which of the two people thought was a bigger issue.

[JJ Husker]

I think they are equally bad so I did not vote in the poll.

Either problem is the flip side of the other problem, machts nicht.

 

Now if you meant to ask which problem is more prevalent......I guess I do not know for sure.

[BigRedBuster]

Both are bad.

[zoogs]

There's also the problem of foreign spies posing as American politicians in order to get elected to office and then destroy us from within.

 

That would be devastating.

[TGHusker]

Both are equally bad but I think the voters being disenfranchised is an easier 'catch'. We can tell if local laws or the actions of others are in violation of voter rights laws. I think it is more difficult to stop the person who has voted under some other person's name or has been allowed to vote fraudulently by the political machinery of the location (think Chicago where all the dead go to vote). In both cases the votes of all of the other voters are devalued in some way. The fraudulent voter devalues the vote of the person who voted in a different way. The disenfranchised voter was denied the primary privilege of citizenship. Both devalue the value of citizenship.

[Husker_x]

Fortunately (or unfortunately, I should say) this is a question with a correct and an incorrect answer. It's not even debatable.

 

Compared to other democracies, the U.S. has a strange penchant for passing laws that suppress voting instead of encourage it. We are one of the few democracies, for example, that requires people to register to vote. Most elsewhere, writes Eric Black for the Minnesota Post:

 

"[G]overnments know the names, ages and addresses of most of its citizens and … provide the appropriate polling place with a list of those qualified to vote. The voter just has to show up."

 

We also hold elections on just one day instead of several and that day is an otherwise normal Tuesday instead of a weekend or a holiday.

Those are just two examples of rules and practices that reduce voting. There are many. It’s called voter suppression and it’s totally a thing. The ACLU has collected voter suppression efforts just since 2013, listing 15 states that have passed such measures.

 

Link

[JJ Husker]

Fortunately (or unfortunately, I should say) this is a question with a correct and an incorrect answer. It's not even debatable.

 

Compared to other democracies, the U.S. has a strange penchant for passing laws that suppress voting instead of encourage it. We are one of the few democracies, for example, that requires people to register to vote. Most elsewhere, writes Eric Black for the Minnesota Post:

 

"[G]overnments know the names, ages and addresses of most of its citizens and … provide the appropriate polling place with a list of those qualified to vote. The voter just has to show up."

 

We also hold elections on just one day instead of several and that day is an otherwise normal Tuesday instead of a weekend or a holiday.

Those are just two examples of rules and practices that reduce voting. There are many. It’s called voter suppression and it’s totally a thing. The ACLU has collected voter suppression efforts just since 2013, listing 15 states that have passed such measures.

 

Link

The short snippet you posted from your link is just flat out wrong on two accounts.

 

1- The conclusion that voting is suppressed because the government "provide the appropriate polling place with a list of those qualified to vote. The voter just has to show up." I would need it explained how that suppresses voting. gasp....the government actually tells you where you can go vote.....the horror.

 

2- And this gem- "We also hold elections on just one day instead of several and that day is an otherwise normal Tuesday instead of a weekend or a holiday." IDK, maybe that is true some places but around here with mail-in ballots, early voting centers, etc. there are multiple options, numerous days, and many places a person can vote. In the past few elections, I literally could vote at any time of day in multiple ways, at many different locations, over the course of around a month to 6 weeks. Of course I am a registered voter with an actual right to vote. Seems like the people we are most concerned about in this country are the non-citizens that don't have a right to vote. It might be a little tough for them because the government probably isn't sending them mail in ballots with multiple polling locations detailed on them.

 

It is not a question with a correct and incorrect answer, unless the answer is they are both bad. Of course people need to register to vote. On what basis would anyone even begin to think a person should not have to be actually authorized to vote in an election? Allowing an unauthorized person (non-citizen) to vote has the exact same adverse effect on an election as suppressing a legitimate person's right to vote. It's ridiculous to think otherwise.

[Abdullah the Butcher]

Voting should be more restrictive anyways.

[Comish]

Obviously both are devastating AND equally difficult to prevent.

Going all the way back to the first efforts at motor voting, we have (while ostensibly intending to make it easier) unintentionally opened the door for much easier abuses.

Voter intimidation may be much more difficult to quantify because it's hard to "assume" what environments, neighborhoods, and/or other real and/or imagined impediments might be intimidating to a diverse pool of potential voters. i.e. We all have different interpretations or thresholds that are intrinsic to individuals.

 

Fraud has been around for ever.

As an example....

There a are number of people who think the gratuitous number of votes from Chicago cemeteries carried Cook county, which carried Chicago, which carried Illinois, which landed JFK the presidency.

[tschu]

Both are bad. Only one is a problem.

[ZRod]

There's also the problem of foreign spies posing as American politicians in order to get elected to office and then destroy us from within.

 

That would be devastating.

Are you talking about that Canadian in Texas?