Derek Hunter asks in a Town Hall column whether it’s too easy to cast an election ballot in the United States.
President Obama told SXSW it is “much easier to order pizza or a trip” than to vote. That is objectively not true.
Thirty-five percent of states have no requirement voters show ID to vote, another 25 percent accept secondary “proof” such as a utility bill to prove residency and who you are. Only 20 percent of states have a strict photo ID requirement to vote.
Beyond not protecting the sanctity of a person’s vote through requiring them to prove they are themselves – hardly a barrier in the 21st century – absentee voting and early voting have made it easier than ever to vote. Too easy, in fact.
To vote absentee used to require providing a verifiable reason you couldn’t vote on Election Day. No more. …
… Now, 27 states allow “no excuses” absentee voting, which expanded to more than 30 percent of the vote in 2008.
In 37 states, polls now open days or weeks early. This should raise the question: How easy do we have to make it to vote?
Voting wasn’t difficult to begin with – go to your polling place on Election Day and cast your ballot. Simple.
Sometimes there were lines, but lines weren’t considered unjust or disenfranchising. Waiting was a part of life before the immediacy of the microwave and Internet.
Is waiting now a bridge too far? A violation of rights? Of course not.
But to say as much, to suggest returning to a “day of” voting method, would be viewed as akin to advocating a poll tax. This all ignores the serious problems with early voting, not least of which are information changes.
Once a ballot is cast, it’s cast. New information in the weeks leading up to Election Day – scandal, change in position, anything – will not bring that ballot back from the box.
