No ID required: Inviting voter fraud

The story on our site titled "Election Day: What could possibly go wrong?" is all about the technology glitches that could occur today when you go out to vote, and it's part of our extensive coverage of the problems surrounding e-voting. But at least here in Massachusetts, there's a much more fundamental problem with the voting process.

I voted this morning in the town of Shrewsbury, and I was stunned by how efficient the process was. All I had to do was provide my name and address to the blue-haired lady sitting behind the folding table. She found my name on her printout, checked the box next to it, and handed me a ballot. I walked over to one of the voting booths, used a black Sharpie to draw a line between the arrows next to the candidates of my choice, gave my name and address to another blue-haired lady sitting behind a different folding table, fed my ballot into a scanner, and left. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes.

If I was stunned by the efficiency, I was exponentially more stunned by the stupidity. Inexplicably, no one asked me for an ID to verify that I was who I claimed to be. Anybody could have walked in and given my name and address and stolen my vote, as long as he arrived before I did. Similarly, I could have provided any random Shrewsbury street address, looked down at the easily visible names on the blue-haired lady's list, and chosen to be any male at that address who hadn't already been checked off with the lady's red pen.

I'm not originally from around here, and this is only the second time I've voted in Massachusetts. I didn't remember whether I had to show an ID when I voted here four years ago, so I've been talking to some longtime Massachusetts residents throughout the newsroom. It turns out nobody can remember ever having to show an ID to vote here. Apparently it's some sort of anti-Big Brother thing. Nobody wants the government to have the power to demand to see your ID as a condition to allow you to exercise your right to vote.

It's absolutely preposterous. We're doing all this hand-wringing about the accuracy and security of e-voting technology because we feel so strongly about ensuring the validity of the results, and yet we blindly leave the front door open to allow blatant voter fraud. When I think about how easily there could already have been a red check mark by my name when I arrived at the voting station, I find it difficult not to be furious.