Voting Twice: SB283

Virginia Senate Bill #283 is short, simple, reasonable, and very interesting for two reasons. Full text:

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+ful+SB283

One reason for posting this: Recently I mentioned to a friend in Tennessee that I'd handed out some petition forms to help my former Governor and e-friend, George Allen, get on the ballot as a candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia. The following conversation occurred:

"That's good! I like him. I'll vote for him."

"You mean you're moving back to Virginia?"

"I wasn't planning on it."

"But he won't be on your ballot in Tennessee." [Unspoken subtext: I know you're older than I am, but how much older, and for how long was your temperature over 103 when you had the flu, despite having had a flu shot, back in January?]

"I still vote in Virginia. I always do."

"But you sold your place in Scott County."

"I still vote in both states--in Tennessee, where I live, and in Virginia, where I was born. Nobody's ever asked any questions in my home town. I go back there, and they hand me a ballot. Don't you know that's how Obama got elected? It's what the Democrats always do, and Republicans ought to do it too."

"You mean you vote in someone else's name?!"

"They let me vote twice in my own name. They can't do anything about it. I have a voter card for each address. They don't have to prove that I still live there. Didn't you say you had kept an old Maryland voter card as a souvenir? If you still have it, you could still vote in Maryland, too."

During the first year I was eligible to vote, I became a temporary resident of Maryland for college tuition purposes. I have never voted twice in the same election, nor have I voted in Maryland since re-registering to vote in Virginia.

So this post will serve as official notice to my friend, who doesn't use the Internet much but has promised to read this blog every few weeks. What you have been doing can be considered a FELONY. It could bar you from ever voting again. Because the shock of hearing an older person I respect confess to a FELONY may have permanently affected my brain, I'm not sure I even remember what your real name is or where your home town is (I remember it's not in Scott County), but I will be watching you. You must pick one state in which to vote from now on.

The second reason is of more general interest. "Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a person entitled to vote absentee under subdivision 2 of §24.2-700 from casting in the same election both a state ballot and a write-in absentee ballot that is processed in the manner provided by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. § 1973ff et seq.). If both ballots are received, the state ballot shall be counted."

What happened to secret ballots? Are they telling us that electronic voting machines aren't keeping the ballots secret? How else would they know which ballot to count?

Fellow Virginians, and Americans in general...we need paper ballots.

This blog hasn't had a thread for "crime." Do we need one? Is "scam" a good enough fit? Don't both voting twice, and having electronic voting machines that are built and used outside of the U.S., count as scams?