Quote:
Originally Posted by GP_Matt
re. Voter fraud
I am really of two minds on voter fraud. I don't like the idea of anything that has the potential of preventing someone from voting but on the other hand voter fraud seems equally offensive to me.
In the last election I forget the Ontario riding that was challenged but there were hundreds of declarations and a large number of them were missing information. The form is supposed to be filled out with the info of the voter and then signed by the voter and the polling officer to verify that he has seen sufficient proof. In the Ontario riding many of the forms weren't signed by either party. They just had some chicken scratch on them and then they were given a ballot.
The other issue with no identification is the bus load scam. It is rumoured to happen in some elections where a bus load of people show up at a polling station and all head inside with no id and make the declaration to get a ballot. Afterwards they pile back on the bus and head to the next polling station. No idea if it has happened in modern times but the system is currently set up so that it can happen.
In my mind though the solution is to give more power to the electoral officer and more training to the staff. This bill seems to give more training to the staff with earlier hiring but then turns around and takes investigative powers away from the EO.
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If you really want to commit voter fraud under the new rules you could do it. If someone is going through the process of getting a bus, counceling 50 people to commit fraud, making up a list of fake addresses and names for people to memorize, and doind this at multiple stations then they arent going to stop at the inconvenience of having to forge a few documents.
Its unlikely that the above happened anyway but if you want to commit voter fraud it would be pretty east regardless of the rules. Until fraud is a real issue access is more important.