Election Day Diary (Part 4 - Indelible Ink Stories)

[harithekid]

As a kid, when I saw my folks return from the polling booth after voting, the indelible ink stain on their left index finger seemed to me an important indication of their having exercised their fundamental right. This was around the time we had the study of our fundamental rights and duties as part of the curriculum in Civics

Comments

[anonymous]

Interesting that you should bring it up, cause recently on NPR, there was a debate over the need for voters to carry ID's.

In California and in most states, one just shows a state issued ID (typically driver's license) and puts vote. However, the law explicitly says that the ID does not need to have a photo. Even a non-photo ID (typically social security card with name and SSN) will suffice.

The debate arose because Indiana amended law to say everyone must have a photo ID. This is indeed a good thing, but the controversial part was that most people who do not have ID's - typically poorer, less educated people are more likely to vote one candidate than the other.

Another interesting statistic - the number of "fake votes" (that were caught) in the last presidential election was just 28.

-Vinayak

[anonymous]

Oh, and to be clear - no finger or any other body part is stained. You vote once, and if you attempt to vote again, the system wont let you.