[EL] “Some used P.O. box as address: Is that vote fraud?”

[John Tanner]

It always is necessary for election officials to have a voter's actual
address so that they will know which ballot style to give the voter.
Homeless people often are asked to specify a location - a shelter under a
specfic bridge (wehre rich and poor have an equal right to reside), etc -
and so have latitude.   Typically voter registration forms demand the
residential address and also have space for a mailing address
if different.  I don't know of the procedures for limiting access to home
address information, but state statutes there certainly should include such
procedures whenever there's a protective order.  But then they don't always
work.  I recall that in Mississippi  - I think it was 1983 - when a voter
was shot by his ex-wife at the polls on election day.


On Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 3:20 PM, Doug Hess <douglasrhess at gmail.com> wrote:

> An interesting news article from Rick's law blog (link below) with
> examples of people using what could be problematic addresses for voter
> registration. I think the idea for the homeless is that you use an address
> at which you can get mail. But is that the same address for determining
> what jurisdiction you live in? Note that the article lists other situations
> where this problem arises (e.g., people who want to hide from dangerous
> ex-spouses, etc.).
>
> I point this out because it makes the list cleaning and list checking work
> by people searching for fraud all the more difficult (and their results
> more likely to be off base). I.e., it's additional evidence that the public
> would be better off if officials and advocates were helping people keep
> their registrations up to date or informing them regarding what to do in
> situations where their real address is problematic, instead of spending so
> much time on fears of fraud.
>
> “Some used P.O. box as address: Is that vote fraud?”
> The Cincinnati Enquirer:
>
> http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201306030522/NEWS/306030024&nclick_check=1
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