I just had a thought about voter registration

The idea just popped into my head, so please be kind ... even if it's really stupid, LOL! :-)

Would it be possible to make a voter registration card that would prevent challenges to a voter's eligibility? What I mean is ... when you register to vote, what if the state issued you a Voter ID card with your photo on it, your address and voting district, and a unique Voter ID number that will be yours for life - no matter where you live in the country. In other words, your Voter ID card would look like a driver's license, but have a Federal Voter ID number that was assigned to you like a Social Security number. If you moved (in state or out of state), you would update your registration, but your Voter ID number would always stay the same, which would make it far more difficult for a person to register in multiple states.

Would a system like this be possible? Could it prevent all of the crap that goes on prior to elections? How could a voter be challenged if they have a valid Voter ID card that was issued by the state and stamped with a unique, Federal ID number?

Everyone has the right to vote. Since most of the challenges seemed to be based on silly things such as a misspelled name, a missing middle initial or a change of address, then wouldn't that problem be solved by simply giving each person a Voter ID number that was as unique as a SS number?

Thoughts ... suggestions ... ridicule? :hide:

sounds like a great idea to me.

Of course, poll workers never ask to see it! :shrug:

You run into problems with any office lesser than that though. Congress criters are elected at the State level so you'd still have to prove State residence, and it gets worse the further down ticket you go, all the way down to your local councelmen.

I know states would somehow have to verify residence prior to election. The biggest problems are challenges ON election day and voters being kicked off the rolls without their knowledge. There's got to be a way to prevent those things because too many people are being disenfranchised. :-(

Hell, they even have problems in Ga. & Ohio where the Pubs have filed law suits because they don't think the RIGHT RECORDS were checked.

To be fair, the voters have some responsibility in this mess too. Far too many people move, get married (and change their name), etc, and never change their registration to match. The original reason for purging voter rolls actually makes sense. People die, move out of State, etc. and no one ever contacts the Sec. of State to say "Hey, remove my name because... or remove Mr. XXXX because he died." So the rolls get more & more bad info.

It seems to me that the Pubs are trying to exploit what is a valid & effective procedure for unethical & illegal purposes. I wonder if we should concentrate on the voter purging procedures instead of the registration process?