It looks Too Big To Steal.
I went to bed before 9 pm. I’d worked from 5:30 am to a smidge after 8 pm, manning the polls as an election worker. I was exhausted and in no frame of mind to watch the election countdown.
Not prestigious work, but a very important part of the process. I was in charge of checking IDs and verifying the information against the voters rolls.
Now, in Lorain, OH, it’s a slick system. The workers use iPads to scan ID, or, if necessary (not a drivers license, passport, or military ID, manually enter the data into the system. There is a QUICK check against the rolls, and the ID is either verified, or identified as a problem.
Most of the time, the problem is resolvable. When it’s beyond our level of expertise, we direct the would-be voter to our Help Desk. They can make the determination to allow the person to vote provisionally. I’m told that most of the provisional voters don’t return with needed documentation by the deadline, Friday.
Expired licenses are one of the problems preventing people from voting. A second, related one is the addresses not matching the registration.
Many of those hitting that barrier were not aware that their voters info was not automatically changed when they got a new drivers license. It should be. If the Departments of Motor Vehicles can register voters, they should be empowered to also update their voter records. Not directly, but sending an authorized change of address. This is especially important to younger voters, as they are most often the ones changing their living situation.
Closely tied to this, is the cost of changing a drivers license. Incorrect addresses often cause other problems, among them not getting notice of court appearances related to driving or parking offenses. It’s cheaper for the state to absorb the cost of the address changes, than to pay later for jammed up courts and the social costs of people losing their drivers licenses. This would be a good change to work for at the state level.
