and redistricting...

It should be universal but some will argue state's rights versus federal. It is such a mess how many different processes there are involved in voting in the United States.

We need an updated Voting Rights Act that should provide for uniform procedures and mandate everything from paper trails to how many voting booths required in each precinct.

because it's a lie from the far right propaganda machine.

There was a huge study here in NM when our GOP governor got in. They found 4 cases of voter fraud, 3 of them were Texans voting at home and voting at their vacation cabins here and all 4 were Republicans. Those people didn't sway an election anywhere and results have been similar in other states. It's just not a problem..

Election fraud is something else. The theft of this state for Stupid in 2004 was so blatant and so clumsily done that in 2005 we got 100% paper ballots. Too many states still use hackable machines and election fraud is always a possibility there, especially if they're red states. The only thing that needs to be done at the Federal level is to mandate paper ballots and increase penalties for any party that makes them "disappear."

Are you reading the posts and watching the television about what is going on with individuals? Bus loads of black voters being followed, people being accosted in polling place parking lots, etc. I am talking about areas where they make it extremely difficult to register and have limited hours and locations to do so. I am not saying they are even widespread but even one instance of voter intimidation is not acceptable. This is the basis of who we are as Americans - the right to have a say in how we are governed. Nothing is more important that people being able to vote in a democracy.

These are not small problems and they are not something to be dismissed.

not voter fraud. Voter fraud is an individual crime perpetrated by the voter. Election fraud is trying to sway the whole election through organized voter intimidation, voting machine hacking, ballot diversion, and other tactics by one party or another.

This is the difference.

use the term voter fraud somewhere? Obviously I have communicated in a way that you misunderstood. I don't think anyone is stealing the election through the machines - although I think Bush stole the elections through the courts way back.

But I am talking about the necessity for a uniform process of registration and voting that are easy and accesible for all people. I am talking about voting zones that should be free from intimidation and that anyone engaging in any form of voter intimidation should be hammered with legal penalties including incarceration.

And I am talking about that there should be a required number of voting machines based on population numbers within geographical reach of the population and required number of back up machines on hand should there be techical difficulties. And I am saying that the states that administer these voting sites should face VAST penalty should they not follow these mandates.

These are the things I think should be enacted.

It's absurd to suggest that we are, as a nation, so different from one state to the next that we need individual, customized voting regulations. I've been having that discussion on and off for decades, and I frankly can see no good argument against it.


The only argument for the current state-by-state hodgepodge, in fact, is that it provides an obstacle to voter turnout...

That and making Election Day a national holiday.