The most secure form of voting requires photo ID. In a poll, 80% said it was needed. This is the way to know the voter is actually the registered voter.
Voting without facial ID is subject to fraud and is less secure. One can get someone to sign a ballot, collect it, change or fill in the ballot, and mail it. The ballot also is exposed to many hands when voting by mail, where it can be changed. Some ballots in the mail have been found to be submitted by dead people.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in the last election that prohibited counties from rejecting mail-in ballots in which the voter’s signature didn’t match their voter registration. This is another reason why mail-in ballots should be limited.
The current voting rights bill without facial ID is not about protecting democracy, but is about opening voting to fraud for the benefit of one party. In past history there was only voting by mail if one qualified for an absentee ballot.
This is nothing in the current Texas Law that prevents anyone from going to the polling place to vote and it supports absentee balloting.
The distinction between absentee voting and voting by mail is important both to the history of mail-in ballots and to the current election climate. Absentee voting is available to U.S. citizens who are physically unable to vote in person, such as members of the military or private citizens who reside overseas, as defined by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986.
In past history, votes were cast at a voting place with facial ID and signature validation. No one questioned whether we had a democracy. The current voting rights proposed bill does not have a facial ID requirement and is just making voting subject to fraud. There is no logical reason why people who do not qualify for absentee ballots cannot get a photo ID on a valid form and vote at a polling place, which requires a photo ID and signature validation.
Lets return to supporting secure voting. The Democrats should not be able to undo the filibuster. The filibuster protects the minority party from unjust legislation.
The past history of voting has supported Democracy with integrity. Forcing bad bills through an evenly divided Senate is bad policy. It creates serious doubts about whether we currently have a real Democracy that supports all the people and not just one party.
Michael A. Wilson is resident of Captain Cook.