I vote in person, I am old with problems that may at some point require me to vote by mail. there are many people ( like overseas military) who need to vote by mail. So I TOTALY reject those who promote only in person voting. Also would support more poling places & more days or longer hours for voting.
We live in amazingly binary times. We just can't seem to see both lanes of the road.
We have the ability to both open up voting and keep things secure, but doing so would require us to do crazy things like "work together" and "innovate". Allowing a different idea to enter the conversation is confused with capitulation.
I'm guessing that, in the short term, we're going to see more of that sad situation. Maybe we'll innovate at some point, assuming we make it to that point.
Govt is the worst place to look for innovation and excellence.. And keeping voting systems and procedures secure ACCURATE and TRACEABLE is actual more important than convenience.. We're not talking about "phoning it in" kind of convenience when it comes to the LEGAL ACT of casting a ballot.. There's a chain of custody, recording and archiving and handling exceptions that ALL REQUIRE chain of custody..
NEVER EVER should a random THIRD PARTY -- like a "ballot harvestor" enter the picture here or EVER HANDLE the legal document that is "a ballot".. There's simply NO "other side of the street on shit like that.. And you want to "innovate" that direction?
MOST registrar offices CAN NOT HANDLE the current voting equipment maintenance, set-up, verifications. We've allowed the day of voting equipment to be designed BY MORONS who think its a good thing to have an Operating system with spyware and virus protection and comm ports on this stuff. It's so bad, that the OEM equipment managers who are NOT public servants have unfettered access to running the elections... Because Govt SCREWED up the paper trail, security, and accuracy of the equipment by buying the WRONG STUFF...
Day of voting equipment should be STONE STUPID.. Just mark the ballot and tally it.. Doesn't require floating point math and a dual or quadruple processor with all the vulnerabilities that entails.. How we ended up buying such shit is beyond me..
It's not all FRAUD we should be worried about.. It SHOULD BE about the competency of who RUNS the registrar functions and election process. We can't pretend it's as simple as counting pen marks anymore..
There's really not enough time here to have touchy feely jabber about "two lane roads" to SECURE elections in this country.. The situation is actually more dire than most people realize.. Time to quit arguing about presenting ID.. You SHOULD BE ABLE to waltz in to vote in a bathing suit with no ID.. But govt can't figure that out.. Should be SECURED OFF LINE picturess of you STORED on the voting register visible to the poll workers or counters. But that's too exotic for the dolts who run the govt...
This is a PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY of govt and they give it no honor or importance.. That's why no side has confidence in the process anymore...