Support NeoGAF

[Nerdkiller]

Rauner will definetely try to veto this. He has a Governor's race next year and is pretty unpopular.

Look again.

Rauner has announced that he will sign it. It's happening.

 

[John Rabbit]

This literally needs to be nationwide.

 

[Josh7289]

Beautiful.

 

[hodayathink]

Physical polling stands are disenfranchising by their very nature and should only exist to serve those who cannot vote by mail (homeless, blind, etc.)

No. I get the point, but I'm a goofy person that forgets and loses things very easily, and I much prefer being able to get up and vote on Election Day to having to remember to fill out my ballot after I get it in the mail and remember to put it back in the mailbox afterwards.

 

[Izayoi]

No. I get the point, but I'm a goofy person that forgets and loses things very easily, and I much prefer being able to get up and vote on Election Day to having to remember to fill out my ballot after I get it in the mail and remember to put it back in the mailbox afterwards.

Yes. Your being an airhead doesn't mean that we can continue disenfranchising millions of voters year after year.

In my state, in addition to ballots being mailed to all registered voters with a valid address, there are accessible voting booths available for people who cannot vote by mail, lose their ballots, or are handicapped.

How do you forget something as important as your ballot, anyway? My wife and I fill ours out as soon as they arrive and immediately take them to the nearest drop box.

I'm baffled that you would be against a universal mail-in system - a proven system that works extremely well. What would you propose as an alternative?

 

[Mimir]

Yep.

Seems like that's mainly an issue with poor implementation.

The absentee ballot itself could be blamed for some of the problems. It had to be enclosed in envelopes containing various information and signatures, including one from a witness who had to attest to handling the logistics of seeing that “the voter marked the ballots in that individual’s presence without showing how they were marked.” Such witnesses must themselves be registered voters, with a few exceptions.

But it is certainly possible to improve the process and reduce the error rate.
Here in Leon County, the rejection rate for absentee ballots is less than 1 percent. The instructions it provides to voters are clear, and the outer envelope is a model of graphic design, with a large signature box at its center.

None of the universal mail voting states have those problems. Signature issues are the most common problem here, and they can be fixed so your vote still counts. There are still improvements that can be made, but the benefits from universal mail voting far outweigh any cons.

 

[Izayoi]

Seems like that's mainly an issue with poor implementation.

None of the universal mail voting states have those problems. Signature issues are the most common problem here, and they can be fixed so your vote still counts. There are still improvements that can be made, but the benefits from universal mail voting far outweigh any cons.

This guy gets it.

I live in Washington state and the vote-by-mail system is absolutely incredible. You are given a long time to respond, and can read the ballot in detail, cross-reference the voting guide at your leisure, and do your research online or otherwise before making choices.

You can then drop it in the mail or at any of the approved ballot drop boxes located all over the fucking place. It's a wonderful system - and I'm convinced that the only people who wouldn't want it are Republicans or those who have not tried it before.

 

[Stinkles]

This guy gets it.

I live in Washington state and the vote-by-mail system is absolutely incredible. You are given a long time to respond, and can read the ballot in detail, cross-reference the voting guide at your leisure, and do your research online or otherwise before making choices.

You can then drop it in the mail or at any of the approved ballot drop boxes located all over the fucking place. It's a wonderful system - and I'm convinced that the only people who wouldn't want it are Republicans or those who have not tried it before.

And then read The Stranger to figure out what all those judges and comptrollers are about.

 

[Izayoi]

And then read The Stranger to figure out what all those judges and comptrollers are about.

LOVE the Stranger's election coverage, exactly for shit like this. They will get down and dirty on EVERYTHING on the ballot.

 

[louiedog]

I live in Washington state and the vote-by-mail system is absolutely incredible. You are given a long time to respond, and can read the ballot in detail, cross-reference the voting guide at your leisure, and do your research online or otherwise before making choices.

Cook County, IL is crazy with what's on the ballot and would benefit greatly from A) maybe changing it, but definitely B) having everyone vote by mail. During a presidential election there might be a page with President, a senator, house rep, and a couple of other things. Then another page of some other local and state races. Then an entire other page with much smaller type covered front to back with literally dozens of judges.

I'm not exaggerating, dozens of names. There's no way to expect normal people to research all of them. The best you can hope for is reading a guide with a couple of notable names and bringing them with you to the polls.

A judge attacked a sheriff's deputy, was arrested, banned from entering the building, and continued to collect her $180k salary for months while suspended before the election when she held her seat because people just skipped that section and refused to vote no on her retention. Every single group including the bar recommended a no on her, and usually out of lots of names only like 3 or 4 get that recommendation, but few voters even knew when they saw that section on voting day.

 

[hodayathink]

Yes. Your being an airhead doesn't mean that we can continue disenfranchising millions of voters year after year.

In my state, in addition to ballots being mailed to all registered voters with a valid address, there are accessible voting booths available for people who cannot vote by mail, lose their ballots, or are handicapped.

How do you forget something as important as your ballot, anyway? My wife and I fill ours out as soon as they arrive and immediately take them to the nearest drop box.

I'm baffled that you would be against a universal mail-in system - a proven system that works extremely well. What would you propose as an alternative?

I'm not against being able to vote by mail. I'm against not allowing people to vote in person unless they're handicapped. I prefer voting in person to voting by mail, and would like to have that choice.

 

[Zoe]

Cook County, IL is crazy with what's on the ballot and would benefit greatly from A) maybe changing it, but definitely B) having everyone vote by mail. During a presidential election there might be a page with President, a senator, house rep, and a couple of other things. Then another page of some other local and state races. Then an entire other page with much smaller type covered front to back with literally dozens of judges.

I'm not exaggerating, dozens of names. There's no way to expect normal people to research all of them. The best you can hope for is reading a guide with a couple of notable names and bringing them with you to the polls.

A judge attacked a sheriff's deputy, was arrested, banned from entering the building, and continued to collect her $180k salary for months while suspended before the election when she held her seat because people just skipped that section and refused to vote no on her retention. Every single group including the bar recommended a no on her, and usually out of lots of names only like 3 or 4 get that recommendation, but few voters even knew when they saw that section on voting day.

I don't think a mail-in ballot will ensure people will put forth their due diligence towards those lesser races. The informed voters are the ones who participate in odd elections, but only one party reliably shows up for those. Everybody tries to get in on the presidential ballot to take advantage of the straight ticket voters.

 

[SolarPowered]

This and a standardized mail-in ballot system where all eligible voters are mailed their ballots a month or more before the date of the election.

Physical polling stands are disenfranchising by their very nature and should only exist to serve those who cannot vote by mail (homeless, blind, etc.)

Don't forget the option to change your vote at least 2-3 weeks before the election day. Gotta have that option just in case your local representative decides they have got to give someone a Stone Cold Stunner before they're elected.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

Seems like that's mainly an issue with poor implementation.

None of the universal mail voting states have those problems. Signature issues are the most common problem here, and they can be fixed so your vote still counts. There are still improvements that can be made, but the benefits from universal mail voting far outweigh any cons.

Even with good implementations, OR and WA are still reporting ballot spoilage rates between 0.8-1.0% at best, which is two to five times optical scan and electronic voting machines (0.2-0.5%.) Extrapolate that out over a national election, and that's between 400,000 (.8% vs .5%) and 1,000,000 (1% vs .2%) votes (based on 136 million presidential votes in 2016.)

There's other issues too. Voting fraud (no, not the non-existent kind the Rs whine about.) The October Surprise issue which reared its head in last week's Montana US House race. More expensive campaigns due to a longer voting window.

You want to know how to really improve elections? Extend voting hours on Election Day (6a-9p at a minimum,) use technology to enable vote-at-any-polling-location and same day registration, get competent election officials so no one has to wait more than 15 minutes to vote, offer no-excuse absentee balloting (absentee balloting has issues, but it still a valuable voting method.) I'd also restore the franchise to felons, but that tends to be a more contentious suggestion.

Illinois seems to be taking a step in the right direction here.

 

[GK86]

Link.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) intends to sign legislation supported by both chambers of the Illinois legislature that will automatically register people to vote when they interact with state drivers’ facilities and other state agencies.

The decision to sign the legislation marks a big victory for voting rights advocates. Rauner vetoed a similar measure last year. At the time, he said the legislation would “inadvertently open the door to voter fraud and run afoul of federal election law.”

“We must protect the sanctity of our election process, and we thank the bill sponsors and stakeholders who worked with us on this piece of legislation. The Governor will sign it,” Eleni Demertzis, a Rauner spokeswoman wrote in an email.

 

[IrishNinja]

this strikes me as a fantastic idea - voter fraud nonsense aside, are there any real arguments against it?

 

[The Awesomest]

I read the thread title as "Automatic Voter Registration Oklahoma'd by Illinois legislature" and I wasn't sure what to make of that