Misplaced Xenophobia - how an American citizen was denied the right to vote

Given that the election hype has been taken care of (regardless of the outcome, I'm not sure I could have physically tolerated extended gnashing vis-a-vis 2000's election) and the synapses have returned to normal, now is probably the best time of any to put out there an idea that has certainly gained a lot of press, but for the wrong reasons: technology enhancing election processes.

To begin with, there has been intense attention given to the technology (some would say to the boondoggle) of e-voting. Whether it is the voting machines themselves or the way the technology behind the vote counting is done, it is a safe bet to say that voter confidence with technology in the election process is at a low point. That is as it should be, but from my perspective, confidence in technology should be low, but not because of the end-user issues. The issue goes deeper than that, to a data infrastructure that is long overdue for a technology upgrade. My story follows...

I am an American citizen, born here and raised here, who has followed the civic duties and responsibilities as thoroughly as I could in my 38 years. I filed my first tax return in my teens, when I made enough to do that. I registered for the Selective Service, and had I been called upon before I was too old to be considered a liability, I would have served to the best of my ability. I pay my taxes and my wife and I have worked hard to be able to work up to the point of being able to own a house, and I vote. I'm not a registered 'Can or 'Crat, but I vote my conscience and personal leanings just the same (I have said - and I maintain - that the concept of a 'straight ticket' is a blight on the face of informed voting, and that it is absolutely impossible for one set of individuals to choose the absolute best candidate for every position; it would be better to not vote than to go in, punch one choice and walk out, thinking erroneously that your prep work has been done by whoever vetted 'your' party's candidates... but that's a digression in another direction).

This year my wife and I found out by bad experience that our data infrastructure is in dire need of BI and other toolsets to enable it to operate well. The last time we voted, though we had filled out the change of residence paperwork (we had the registration cards and the new addresses on our licenses), the changes didn't get made, and we were left registered in our old county. We went ahead and filled out the necessary paperwork and voted on provisional ballots, and did the paperwork needed to cancel our registration (again) in the old county and transfer it to the new county. All good, and we were pleased at how smoothly we were able to get through the process.

Then we tried to find out where we were supposed to vote this year, and were met with a nasty surprise. It seems that instead of cancelling our registration on the official rolls in the old county, and making sure we were on the current county rolls (as I said, we filled out our change of registration paperwork before the first time), BOTH county registrations were cancelled, and we were left in the unsuspected position of being unregistered. We couldn't vote provisionally, since not being registered doesn't count in the rules for those, so we were not permitted to exercise a right we had not only exercised before, but had attempted a couple of times to get right.

Here's why this is painful. We live in the state of Indiana, and one of the things our current governor (thankfully he didn't need our votes for reelection) has done has been to look heavily into the use of technology and newer business models to try to remove a lot of inefficiency from the state's operations. I personally think he's done a great job in doing this, because, warts and all, things do run more efficiently. My extended family has also experienced the negative side of how this has played out, but the benefits still outweigh the problems.

Of all the improvements, though, I don't believe anything much has been done with BI, and with a lot of state data under management, that is a mistake. Many people feel that things like BI are invasive and that somehow unifying data to figure out how to better deliver needed things to the places they are needed is inherently evil. Those people are misguided in their understandings,, choosing rhetoric from people who love drama but hate facts over facts from people who love to work smarter and better.

The databases that contain our taxpayer data have no problem locating us and deeming that we are eligible to pay taxes on our house and property. The municipality has no trouble locating us with the bills for our necessary services (trash removal, sewage, etc.). Our state legislators have no trouble finding our e-mail addresses to send us communiques and other things. All these things are good, at least in a civic way. However, when it comes to elections, we can drop off the radar with the erroneous stroke of a pen (who knows how these things work when you submit paperwork... it could have been a pencil). That is wrong, and the most rudimentary elements of BI could help ensure it doesn't happen.

Since I was brought up to never submit a problem without trying to come up with a solution, here is one way this situation could be minimized with BI. Logically, those individuals with a heightened stake in the affairs of the state would be those who not only reside in the state, but also own property in the state. They're not more important than those who rent and do not own property, but in terms of havnig things at stake that are financed by taxes, property owners are much more so at risk of higher taxes than those non-property owners, and they are more stable in terms of benig able to be located for taxation purposes. For that reason, the first BI action that should take place is to verify that all registered property owners are also registered voters.

If a property owner is found who is not registered to vote, then the second BI task would be to see if the owner is the same person as the one who is billed by the municipality for the services there at that address. If it is the same person, then an actual person could contact the individual in question (either by phone or by mailer) and offer them the ability to register. That would not only make it easy for them to register, it would also alert those who've had trouble with their records that they are not currently registered to vote.

If the municipality billing information is not the same as the owner, then the 'tiebreaker' could be a combination of the Motor Vehicle database and other, relevant sources to see if the registered owner lives in the state or not. If they live in the state, but not in the county, then that information would be checked against the county they are registered in.

There are probably several who are calling out that this represents Big Brother at his finest. Please note that I said nothing about saving the information that is generated anywhere. If forms register someone to vote, then those forms should be captured electronically and used as records, but the BI functions should be done without saving the statuses. Do them once per election, approximately three months before the elections themselves, and repeat the process. There are tools out there that could evaluate the amounts of data that are there and could produce a hit list of thiings without saving the results that are generated (except for the case where someone takes umbrage at the process and wants to never be cntacted again - you'd want to record that).

The above is only an example of how technology could really be applied to the election process to enable it at its roots. The solution is not perfect, and there would undoubtedly be some things that fell through the cracks, but allow me one additional question - how do you feel about the census? If you don't mind the census, then take a hard look at what it actually does. It is an attempt to perform BI where no cohesive data exist. If a census is okay, then it should be okay to perform census-type activity on the data generated by individuals in order to bolster the overall quality of the democtratic process.

Collectively we need to realize that BI is a beneficial tool, not some spying, prying, loathsome attempt to gain access to our inner-workings. BI helps make sure every time we go to our nearest superstore they have enough potato chips in the varieties we like to eat, shouldn't we be interested in using it for something of nobler intent?