To me that sounds almost as vulnerable to theft and mail fraud and duplication and other such interference as voting on computers. The old mechanical voting machines I grew up with worked great and were virtually tamper-proof. Either use them or a box with a slot. Furthermore, people say the new electronic voting machines are a closed circuit, and maybe so, but the results have to be sent out to be tabulated and can be intercepted at that juncture. Computer technology is destroying our lives and institutions.

@fishline79 They have the vot eby mail down to prevent fraud and tampering. Everyone gets a ballot envelope to sign, and on that envelope is a bar code which gets scanned to compare signature on file. Bar codes keep track of voter registration rolls, wher ballots are mailed out to and so on.

The only fraud detected so far was a volunteer at the ballot center who was filling in ballots in sections left blank, but sh ewas caught and prosecuted for ballot tampering. it is hard not to get caught in a room full of people where the ballots are opened. It also leave a pape4r trail which can be counted by hand if needed

@snytiger6 Yeah, just so, but how about in Georgia where the guy running was the X registrar of votes (or some such post) many votes were not recorded so the black lady lost!

@fishline79 Yeah, I do think that a sctary of stae shoudl not be able to oversee the results of his own election.

Georgia has had election irregularities since the 2000 Gubernatorial election. The politics of that state is pretty crooked.

Not to mention the polling places themselves. I've never waited more than 10 minutes in my rural district. Poll workers are always very friendly. I went with a friend to cast her vote in Lansing a few years ago and she was in line for many hours. Lots of unfriendly (overwhelmed) workers making sure everyone was in line. And the rural vote counts for more. Doesn't seem right at all..

My point, exactly. Some people have to take off work to vote.

@fishline79 Perhaps in democracies there should be a voting holiday where only emergency and essential services have to work.

Figures. We were probably trying to be as kooky as the Brits! Thanks for the note. I wasn't aware of that fact.

@fishline79 Don't forget the US system is based on the British model. It's what they had when the USA started.

@fishline79 I'm originally from Washington State, and there the ballot gets sent to you by mail so it arrives 2 weeks before election day. Can mail it back or drop it off at collection sites when it's convenient, as long as it's postmarked before election day is over.

It's way to good of a system to be used nationwide, though, and your idea of moving the day to Sunday doesn't look like it'd solve much of anything, to me.