Peter SchorschI want to go on record saying that I have the deepest respect, regard and admiration for those brave souls who serve in our nation’s military. I sincerely recognize that the threat to global stability is real and, yes, we definitely want and need them on that wall.
With that said…
There are two bills making their way through the Legislature that have to do with online voting and voter registration.
On one hand, we have Senate Bill 228 by Jeff Clemens, which would allow online voter registration to begin in 2017. By that time, I fully expect I will be able to order a pizza from my phone and have it delivered by drone to my exact location in less than ten minutes. And in 2017 my Apple Watch will be old hat and actual plastic credit cards will be a thing of the past – at least in my household they will be.
To be clear, Clemens’ bill (and the similar House Bill 7143) would not let people actually VOTE online, just register to vote. The bills, developed under the guidance of the 67 supervisors of elections and the secretary of state, have all kinds of checkpoints and fraud protections, many of which (ironically) work with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles online systems. Good.
And we will hardly be ahead of the curve. As of this writing, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, this change has either already been enacted or is the law (but not yet implemented) in 25 states.
Seems like a good idea, except Gov. Rick Scott – and by virtue of that, now his march-in-lockstep secretary of state, Ken Detzner – is opposed to it. Despite assurances from everyone who knows how these systems work and despite all of the smart safeguards, Gov. Scott is worried about voter fraud. He is concerned that opening up the voter systems will encourage bad people to do bad things to our voter rolls.
Sheesh.
So why did I open with a missive about our military?
Because there is also a pair of bills (SB 1296/HB 1091) making their way through the Legislature that would create a task force to examine ways to allow military personnel to actually cast ballots while overseas.
What could possibly go wrong?
Setting up an Internet portal from a village outside of Kandahar, or in the Far East or east Africa or in the jungles of South America – or anyplace where our the protectors of freedom reside – seems at least a little risky. Setting up a link from Somalia sounds a bit more problematic than letting kids in a local high school simply register from the computer in the library.
I am not against overseas voting for our nation’s military. In fact, I have every confidence that some big brain with a lot of chest candy will figure out a secure system that would allow military personnel to vote securely while they are in the business of protecting our freedoms. What better way could there be to say we know what you are fighting for than to give them every opportunity to partake in a vital part of the republic they are protecting?
Stay with me here.
If we can find a way for people to securely and safely VOTE – cast an actual ballot – while in an active combat zone far from the security of the good old U.S. of A., then why can’t we let people register to vote from the security of a web-based online system right here in our backyard?
And if the governor is so deeply concerned about voter fraud and the integrity/sanctity of our voting systems, why isn’t he speaking out against a bill that would allow actual online voting from Yemen?
Don’t answer that.
Peter Schorsch is a new media publisher and political consultant based in St. Petersburg, Fla. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
