Voter Purge or Cash Splurge? (Part 1)

Last week I received a call from a nice woman reaching out on behalf of Judicial Watch, urging me to contribute $75 or more to their 2012 Election Integrity Project effort to purge the rolls of ineligible voters. 

The pitch started with me being advised that there are currently over 2 million dead people registered to vote.  I asked where these people were, and was advised, "well, they're right here in America, all across the United States, literally millions of dead people still on the voter rolls." 

I asked how many of them had actually voted; she was not able to answer my question, but forged ahead, explaining how dangerous it was that this year's election could be stolen  -- stolen! -- by ineligible voters, and that we needed photo ID and needed to purge all of the ineligible and dead voters from the polls to provide us election integrity. Paraphrasing her concern, the issue was that states will mail voter notices to dead people, and they will be picked up and used by living people with nefarious intent to elect the wrong person and throw the country into turmoil.

I asked her where she lived and what proof of identity she had to show to vote in the last election.  According to her, in Phoenix, you just have to show up with the card you got in the mail, and you can vote. Silly Arizonans, I thought -- with their illegal immigration issues, you'd think they'd require more than that. And of course they do -- I checked the rules for proof of identification, which boldly declare Every qualified elector is required to show proof of identity at the polling place before receiving a ballot.

Oh dear -- was I lied to?

Here in Onondaga County, in Central New York, I have to (1) show up at the right polling place; (2) be listed in the log; and (3) sign the book with a signature that matches the one that's on file with the Board of Elections.  

I'm thinking that's a pretty good protection -- not a perfect one, I agree, but pretty darn good. And while I'm not diabolically opposed to having to show ID to vote, the risk of someone voting using a fake ID seems much higher than that of someone having enough interest in 'fake voting' to take the time to get hold of and practice my atrocious signature and then show up at the right place to pretend they're me.  

I want elections to be fair and honest and reasonable as much as the next guy. I think that states should maintain accurate voter registration records.  I think if a state allows someone to vote simply because they have a polling place card in their hands, they need to have their heads examined. But I think Judicial Watch is stretching it with their belief that "Allowing the names of ineligible voters to remain on the voting rolls harms the integrity of the electoral process and undermines voter confidence in the legitimacy of elections."

In part two, I'll talk about the things that really harm the integrity and undermine voter confidence.  Trust me, it's not dead people.