Jonathan’s thought on election integrity

Here’s my rough draft of the Fair Elections Act:

1. Voting registration should be handled by state and local governments. Registration information received should be passed on to a national voting registry in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security.

2. Registration forms should request the full social security number of the registrant. The social security number and the name of the individual should then be submitted to the social security office for verification. If the information on the registration form matches the information that the social security office has on file then the registration should be processed. If the name doesn’t match the name that the social security office has for that social security number or the social security number is found to be fake, then the registration from should be rejected and a letter should be sent to this individual explaining why his application was rejected.

3. Every Board of Elections shall be required to contact county clerk’s offices to find out who died recently and request copies of the death certificates. The deceased individuals shall be removed from the list of registered voters as promptly as possible.

4. Every voter shall be required to show photo identification when he or she shows up to vote.  Every polling site should have either police officers or private security to check the photo IDs, make sure that the name of the individual is on the list and tell the voter where to sign.  Valid photo IDs include a driver’s license or a non-driver ID issued by a Department of Motor Vehicles or a United States Passport. Any United States citizen who is unable to obtain any valid form of photo identification should contact his or her local Board of Elections to get one free of charge.

5. Every precinct shall be required to ascertain the exact number of eligible voters for a particular election day before election day or early voting begins. If some voters vote with an absentee ballot, then the election day voter roll should reflect this so as to prevent the absentee voters from voting a second time.

6. All voting machines and processing systems must undergo rigorous testing before being used for an actual election. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice must have records of all voting machinery and systems used for elections throughout the country.

7. If the numbers of votes reported for a precinct exceeds the number of people registered for that precinct then all votes cast for that precinct shall be disqualified. If the number of disallowed votes for such precincts would be enough to make a difference for a particular election then these precincts should have a do-over vote with much closer security and supervision to ensure that this mishap will not occur again.

8. If an entire county reports zero votes for a candidate of a major party then a thorough investigation shall be conducted to determine if the results are legitimate. If necessary, the county should have a do-over vote.

9. All voting shall take place at designated polling stations on election days. If an individual in unable to make it to his/her local voting location on election day, an absentee ballot may be requested in writing ahead of time but must be filled out and signed by the addressee and shall not be accepted if it is received after Election Day.

Jonathan Dyckman