Question of the week (Week of Nov. 2)
How would you improve the voting process?
Do you have suggestions for state and local officials on how to ease the voting process? We liked the Guilford Board of Elections' link to early voting poll wait times. It certainly helped voters know which sites had short lines and which had long ones. We also liked that the State Board of Elections decided to allow polling places to extend hours yesterday. What are other steps that could be taken to make it easier to vote? Or do you think the voting system needs to be more restrictive?
Comments (2)
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I applaud North Carolina's expansion and promotion of early voting. To further ease the voting process and reduce lines at the polls, the state and county boards of elections should better publicize the option of no-excuse voting by mail and make it easier to request a by-mail ballot. I have used this option for several elections and I find that it gives me ample time to study my choices and vote in an unhurried manner. By-mail voting is becoming more popular across the country, particularly in Western states, and not just with the elderly and those with disabilities.
Most states have a universal absentee ballot request form that can be downloaded, filled out, printed and mailed to the county elections office, but North Carolina relies on voters making handwritten requests for ballots. NC should remove the unnecessary requirement that by-mail ballots be witnessed, as many states have done, and instead use signature verification to prevent fraud. Finally, NC should follow the lead of several Western states and allow voters to place themselves on a "permanent mail ballot list," which means that they will automatically be mailed a ballot for every election in which they're eligible to vote.
The State Board of Elections should do a lot more with the Voter Guide that it already mails to every NC resident. It should be a one-stop resource for everything a voter needs to cast an informed vote. It should contain information about every candidate and referendum on the ballot and links to candidates' Websites and other nonpartisan information sources. It shoud also include a form and a return envelope that can be used to register to vote, change your name, address or party affiliation, and request a by-mail ballot or be put on a permanent mail ballot list.
Finally, same-day voter registration, which has been utilized by some 4,000 voters during early voting this cycle, should be expanded to include Election Day.
Posted on November 2, 2008 10:54 AM
You would allowed to vote on election day only. You would have a voter Id card. You should be required to have a birth certificate to register This crap of 14 year old registering and one guy registering 73 times is ludicrous.The democrats do ever thing possible to keep overseas military from voting. Yet they encourage ACRON to register people may times . ACRON openly brags about how they pay illegals to register. The justice department made it clear, they were not going to check voter fraud. You will also noticed that Obama big cash supporters came from the justice dept.
Whats the liberals motto? vote and vote often.
Could this be why the NR is against voter ID cards?
Posted on November 3, 2008 6:03 AM