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January 30, 2005

Dye

This question is brought up by the Iraqi elections, but it is something I've noticed in other elections too. Namely, why don't American elections use a finger-dye type system to prevent vote fraud? Even though some right-wingers believe vote fraud is rampant in minority precincts, it's a relatively small problem. By that I mean vote count innaccuracies probably account for more elections where the wrong guy wins than vote fraud. Specifically, fraud on the elections official level, like what happened in Alabama's governor's race in 2002 definitely affects more elections adversely than say a few hundred people voting twice in a Presidential election.

Anyway, the thing about dye is that in the United States it probably wouldn't do much to verify the validity of elections, but it could potentially open the door for a number of reforms that Democrats and like-minded groups would prefer, such as same day registration and an ability to vote at any precinct or at a shopping mall regardless of where you live.

I'm just curious why we don't use a similar system here to denote who's voted. My guess is that a bipartisan coalition forms in opposition whenever the idea comes up. Democrats oppose it out of civil liberty concerns (it's insulting to voters etc) and Republicans oppose it because they know it could open up more opportunities (like same day registration) for Democratic leaning voters to vote. That's a shame.

Posted by Chris at January 30, 2005 02:40 PM

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