How can you allow voting by mail and also requiring id? If you mail in your ballot you can't show an id?
If you don't want voter id then having a national id is not important?
If you don't want voter id then having a national id is not important?
Basically, you request a mail-in ballot. You are checked to see if you're registered to vote. If you are, one is sent to you. You fill it in and mail it back by the required date.
You sign a declaration on that mail-in ballot. When the votes are counted, your details and your signature are physically checked. If they're accepted, your ballot is added to the pile, basically.
So your ballot isn't associated with your name but the envelope it came in is.
There are lots of checks on integrity for this sort of thing. Monitors from the major parties who can object to whether a signature matches that which is on file and so on.
The point of voting with an id is to look at the picture and compare with the person to confirm they are the actual person.
edit: before you say they check the signature. It is not reliable. I know people who have had to confirm their signature despite it looking close. I've scribbled my name not even close to what I had recorded and it worked fine.
What leads you to believe this?
Is this accurate?
My absentee ballot has a unique barcode, and I assumed it matches the barcode on the envelope, which are all tied to my name at the township office.
While my signature is fairly consistent with key parts looking similar, I almost never end up with duplicate looking signatures. An expert could probably identify them as being from the same person. A layman could almost certainly challenge the signature and win.