For example, in Poland people want to show your own identity card.

In Australia its a little harder. You need to prove who you are, and you HAVE to vote.

Er, not always. Every time I’ve voted, the way of verifying my identity is ye olde ‘What’s your name?’ thing, just like this.

but also:

s/works/worked in this instance/

In the 2004 election, Democrats paid someone in Ohio (paid him in drugs … nice) to register hundreds of fake voters.

Not quite. The NAACP National Voter Fund had a woman who was volunteering to register new voters. She hired a guy — 22-year-old Chad Staton — to register voters for her, paying him in crack. Said crackhead sat down and filled out 124 registration forms for Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Michael Jordan, and other fictional/famous names. A bunch of others all had Chad Staton’s name on them, over and over again. The signatures on the cards were all the same, and they were for the entirely wrong county. Even somebody with a room-temperature IQ would know that was fraud. He was arrested within a couple of days of turning in the forms.

“Democrats” didn’t pay somebody — an interest group got a volunteer who, in turn, paid some other guy to register people. Said crackhead, being a crackhead, tried to register a fictional character who would never be permitted to vote. He was arrested.

The system, as they say, works.

Why do you feel that your identity needs to be verified by some means other than your physical presence?

Because you need more than a warm-body check to eliminate fraud.

How would you game this system? By going back and pretending to be someone else?

Yes, or going to different location and pretending to be other people. That way there’d be no danger of people recognizing me.

Even if you were perfectly successful, what happens when the real Mr. Smith comes in to cast his vote?

They’d probably investigate him, since I’d be long gone. There’s no way for them to trace it back to me, because they didn’t verify my identity in the first place. They’d probably tell Mr. Smith that he’s out of luck and turn him away.

Even if you were really lucky, what have you achieved? You managed to cast half a dozen extra votes for your candidate. That’s not going to throw the election. In order to achieve anything you would need scores of people (at least) running around the constituency all casting multiple ballots.

In the 2004 election, Democrats paid someone in Ohio (paid him in drugs — nice) to register hundreds of fake voters. Personally, I couldn’t have done much, but someone could easily organize enough people to make a difference.

And yeah, absentee ballots are also a huge risk.

In any case, verification of signature and photo identification is the law in Florida. It’s required to reduce fraud.

It is worth noting that the non-checking of my ID may have been an exception. I know other people who voted at the same precinct and were checked for ID. So that’s some consolation.

How would you game this system? By going back and pretending to be someone else? There’s a reasonable chance the registrar would recognise you. The police might be called. Perhaps you would have more luck going around all of the polling stations in the district, and voting once at each one. In each, there’s a reasonable chance that the registrar would not be fooled by your “reading someone else’s address” act. Even if you were perfectly successful, what happens when the real Mr. Smith comes in to cast his vote? Uh, oh. Someone’s been pretending to be him, here comes the police investigation.

Even if you were really lucky, what have you achieved? You managed to cast half a dozen extra votes for your candidate. That’s not going to throw the election. In order to achieve anything you would need scores of people (at least) running around the constituency all casting multiple ballots. The chances of no-one noticing THAT are vanishingly small.

Absentee ballots are a huge risk, because they allow a constituent to prove how they voted, or simply pass the paper to someone else to vote for them. That allows votes to be bought.

(Congratulations on voting, by the way. Most of your countrymen don’t seem to think it’s worth the trouble.)

Why the hell did they bring out the electronic voting machines?

I don’t know, but I voted to switch Sarasota County to optical scan ballots. Those are the best. Initial paper record, less ambiguous than punchcards, and can be scanned electronically or manually reviewed.

Why the hell did they bring out the electronic voting machines? Of COURSE people had problems. Just think about the last time you went to the airport or the post office. Sure, there are plenty of automated machines, but 90% of the airport is terrified to use them. Personally, I like using automated machines. I use self check outs at grocery stores and automated ticket printers at the airport because I’m competent enough to make the effort a time-saver.