Hey, didn't we just change that a couple of years ago?
As of the changes back and forth in this law weren't confusing enough in 2004 when several GOP activists got stung on the confusing requirements, Democratic legislators are attempting to change the law once again to drop the law that absentee ballot applications need to be notarized.
HB 1224, An Act to eliminate the requirement that an application or request for an absentee ballot be notarized has been introduced by several Democrats.
I anxiously await their testimony that the requirement for notarization has been confusing and burdensome ever since the law changed, because just the introduction of the act seems to be exoneration for those - Republican and Democrat - who have gotten stung by the changes on an election to election basis.
HB 1224, An Act to eliminate the requirement that an application or request for an absentee ballot be notarized has been introduced by several Democrats.
I anxiously await their testimony that the requirement for notarization has been confusing and burdensome ever since the law changed, because just the introduction of the act seems to be exoneration for those - Republican and Democrat - who have gotten stung by the changes on an election to election basis.
Comments
That's bullshit! The requirement that a notary actually witness a person's signature is not confusing at all. The secretary of state sends every notary a pamphlet with the requirements that any 8th grader can understand.
Those GOP activists were willfully committing voter fraud by taking absentee ballot requests anywhere and everywhere without a notary and sending them to the Sioux Falls office where notaries were falsely attesting that the people who requested ballots had signed in front of them. The Larry Russell/Jennifer Giannonatti fraud factory.
Having said that, it is a bad idea to repeal this requirement - when administered correctly, it prevents election fraud.
Nothing more should be have to be said about the issue... we already saw what one election cycle with a fairly localized/isolated fraud charge can do to this state, so let's not let this get by and have to face another suspected case of voter fraud with 10 times the magnitude of the previous one.
Simply said, it's a bad idea... let's hope it doesn't get passed
The notary requirement is, I think, an unnecessary burden. Our voter registration and absentee laws should encourage voter participation while reasonably protecting against fraud. We can adequately protect against fraud without a requirement that a notary be present when the request is filled out.
But saying that the passage of this bill will exonerate anyone is like saying that everyone picked up for speeding was exonerated when we increased the speed limit on interstates and highways. It's a bunk argument.