Solving One Problem by Creating Another

[discreet_chaos]

New Mexico's Secretary of State, Rebecca Vigil-Giron has been starring in a public service announcement about the new election reform laws, which passed through the legislature last session. The funny thing about her ad is when she says "vote early" because every time I hear it, I want to tack on "and often", but to be perfectly honestly, it's the

Comments

[archanglrobriel]

I want to tack on "and often"

Oh good, it's not just me that's doing this.

It features the voter's full name and address, their date of birth and their voter identification number, which is the last four digits of their Social Security number. It is these elements that set off my alarm bells because some combination of these things are often used to verify identity, when one does business over the phone.

Whoa. That does seem to be a bit extreme in a state that has this much identity theft. Why not just put my Mom's maiden name on the bottom and complete the thing? And didn't I hear that the New Mexico mail service are themselves being investigated for engaging in identity theft and mail fraud in some cities? I seem to recall Las Cruces postal service was for certain, but I seem to remember other cities mentioned there too.
Do we have a really big voter fraud problem in NM? I just moved back so I haven't heard one way or ther other. I just wonder why they're instituting such a system.

[discreet_chaos]

If Rebecca Vigil-Giron hyphenates her children's names, it'd take cover the maiden name question when they are of age. My wife hyphenates, but the children have mine. Of course, they do both have four names and the third, or the one right before the last is their mother's maiden. I've actually known quite a few people over the years, who have their mother's maiden as their middle name, so an ingenious criminal could cover that on occasion, especially if they have all of the other information that's printed on the card