It would be nice if absentee ballots were issued because the person was honestly not able to make it into the polling place, and not just so some fatass doesn't have to bother to drive five blocks. Unfortunately, I can't think of any feasible way to sort one category from the other.
I'm sorry, but I don't think society is improved by making the voting process so damned easy that an orangutan could do it.
The restrictions on voting have become so loose that fraud is almost inevitable. In the old days, a certain amount of fraud, like a certain number of spoiled ballots, was overlooked, and lost in the noise. Nowadays, when every hiccup in the process is forged into a razor-edged political weapon to "de-legitimize" an entire election, it isn't so simple any more.
The lawyers are in place. They're waiting. And if you don't think selected "disenfranchised voters" aren't already rehearsing their lines, I've got a bridge you might want to buy.
More on this here.
"We're waiting for the day that pols can just cut out the middleman and settle all elections in court," jokes Chuck Todd, editor of the political tip sheet Hotline.
You think he's joking, don't you? There are politicians who see elections as a cross they have to bear every few years, who have contempt for the electorate, and are convinced that the voters are more or less unqualified to decide anything for themselves.
Of course politicians want ignorant idiots to vote. It's easy to convince an idiot to vote for you. Responsible, self-reliant, intelligent people might ask you inconvenient questions.
Some major reform is needed. I wish I knew exactly what. At the very least, showing IDs at a polling place, like a driver's license, or a picture ID from your job, or something that shows you are who you are, isn't that much to ask.
And saying that some people "can't get such things" is utter crap. A California picture ID (not a driver's license) is $20 bucks. Free if you're a senior citizen. For God's sake, the exercise of franchise should require SOME effort.