ID Theft at the Polls?
Imagine that you get up in the morning, hop in your car and head down to your local polling station before work to cast your vote in the presidential primaries. But you’re turned away at the door. You’re told that you’ve already voted, though you know this isn’t true. You don’t know what to do next.
It Happens More Than You Think
This scenario occurs more often then you might imagine. This spring it happened to several people around Houston, Texas around precinct 219. The victims contacted authorities, which lead to a criminal investigation. They found that many of the victims– primarily senior citizens– had had their identities stolen and the thieves used their information to cast absentee ballots, effectively stealing their say in the democratic process. Citizens were understandably irate after having their voices silenced.
Authorities found out that people were going door to door offering to help elderly citizens fill out their voter registration forms, taking note of their personal information, which the perpetrators later used to fill out the absentee ballots in the victims’ names. Some of the victims willingly signed the paperwork presented to them and others did not, but it made no difference in the end: several of the people duped hadn’t signed anything, yet still had their personal information and votes stolen.
A precinct judge later found out that some of the victims had their votes purloined in the past, meaning that the identity thieves could missappropriate votes repeatedly after they had recorded a person’s personal information once. The identity thieves also had potential access to the victims’ financial assets.
It Can be Avoided
Such scams are easily avoided by keeping your personal information private, or employing the help of a trusted friend or family member if need be. Senior citizens– especially those with dementia– are frequently the targets of identity theft, so be sure to spread the word amongst your elderly relatives.
It’s of the utmost importance to keep the democratic election of our nation’s representatives honest if we hope to keep the United States from falling into further corruption. As Thomas Paine wrote, “The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.”
