VOTER REGISTRATION--UNITED STATES---a computer picture of every voter

line drawing:

a computer screen with the voter's picture;
standing behind: the actual voter.

Voter identification by
on-line photo

By JAMES LEONARD PARK

    Many states are struggling with voter ID.
There are strong partisan differences of opinion.
But who could disagree with proper identification of all eligible voters?

    Ten years from now, we will probably prove our identities
by means of an on-line database of registered voters.
We will tell our names and addresses
and the election judge will use a computers to look us up.
If we are who we claim to me,
we will be allowed to cast our secret ballots.

    In the meantime, no one should be denied the right to vote
because he or she has no photo ID,
because the photo ID has been lost,
or because the address is wrong.
Let the old rules for voter registration continue until 2027
while the new system is created and perfected.

    We know that teen-agers everywhere in the USA
have thousands of fake drivers' licenses
because they want to drink alcohol while they are still under age.
Thus, drivers' licenses (until they become more secure and accurate)
are not a good way to check identification for voting.

    Any new systems of certifying the identity of eligible voters
will have to be more fool-proof than the old.

    Voter registration should still be permitted at the polls on election day
in states that empower save-day registration.
But in addition to the current ways of proving
one's age, citizenship, & residence,
each new voter would have his or her picture taken.

    If and when a voter is discovered to be not eligible,
then that person should be excluded from the next election,
unless any confusion has been cleared up in the meantime.

    Right now voters merely say their names and sign the registry.
Sometimes signatures are compared with those on file.
But election judges are not experts in handwriting analysis.
And some signatures are so squiggly that no one can read them.
Writing our names is not a very secure way of proving our identity.

    But if each election judge has a computer
connected to the database of all eligible voters with their pictures,
then a quick check of that database will easily prove the voter's identity.

    Such a computerized database of voters
will have some problems when it is first created.
And that is the reason for allowing the old systems
to continue for a transitional ten years.
Until 2027, we should still be able to sign our names
to prove that we are the registered voters.
And if we are not already in the picture database,
we will have our pictures taken and stored.

    Over the next 10 years, each state could create
a state-wide database of all eligible voters with their pictures.

    Then the database could become national:
200 million voters would have their pictures in a single database.
When a voter moves to a new address,
the new registration to vote is automatic.
And the old registration is automatically canceled.

Voter registration should
never become a partisan issue.

    The computer database will allow election judges to detect people
who are registered in more than one place.
Some voters have more than one residence.
But having multiple homes does not grant extra votes.
For example, how many people vote in two states
because they have addresses in both states?
The present systems have no way of eliminating
double-registration and double-voting.

    Voter registration should never become a partisan issue.
There is something wrong with any suggested change
that is supported by only one party.
Partisans want to suppress the votes of the other party.
But open-minded people want voters of all political stripes
to have equal access to the polls.

    College students studying away from home
will have to decide one voting residence.

    Homeless people cannot be expected to carry photo IDs with them.
But they can show their faces
and have their pictures taken when they show up to vote.

    Some states have discovered several non-citizens on their voting-rolls.
Once picture-based voter-registration goes nation-wide,
names and faces will be checked by looking at our national directory,
which will have a picture of every person living in the USA
—old and young, citizens and non-citizens.
Only citizens age 18 and older will be permitted to vote.

    With on-line voter identification,
I will show up at my polling place and tell my name.
The election judge will look up my picture on a computer.
If my face matches the picture,
I will be given a ballot on which I will mark my secret votes.

    One hundred years from now,
we will all be voting using super-secure computer networks.
This will require changes in voter registration and verification.

    Our methods of voting will continue to evolve,
but the principle should remain the same:
one person, one vote.


James Leonard Park is registered to vote in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Created June 15, 2012; Revised 6-20-2012; 6-29-2012; 7-18-2012; 7-26-2012;
8-15-2012; 8-16-2012; 8-23-2012; 9-19-2012;
10-17-2012; 10-19-2012; 10-29-2016; r 6-22-2017;