Hacking the Vote

by A Napa-Candidate

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the more recent "Motor Voter" laws (officially known as the National Voter Registration Act - circa 1993) allow the wily hacker - or the zealous political extremist - the opportunity to over-influence the political process in the United States with a very positive risk-rewarded ratio: vote early, vote often, vote with very little chance of getting caught.

"Motor Voter" is less useful, so we will discuss it first.  All it does is present voter registration material at almost every contact an individual has with government, either federal, state, or local.  It is named from the practice of actually attaching a voter registration form to various motor vehicle department forms, notably driver's license applications and the like  Its only effect is to enlarge the electorate, allegedly favoring Democrats.  However, it is interesting to note that the previous act enlarging the electorate (the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18), though predicted to favor Democrats, has actually favored Republicans in most elections since this has been in effect (1972).

The Voting Rights Act is the tool, the camouflaged loaded gun waiting to be seized by hackers - or by Hitlers.

The act states that if a geopolitical area (a state, such as Mississippi, a county, or a city such as New York City) has a minority election turnout which is less than that minority's percentage of the general population, then that area is subject to the Voting Rights Act, which liberalize the election laws.

In other words, if NYC has a population which is 35% Black and 30% Latino/Hispanic, then at least 35% of voters at the polls must be Black, and 30% must be Hispanic/Latino.  Otherwise the NVRA kicks in.

This raises many interesting questions.  What if you're a very dark-skinned Hispanic?  What if you're a dark-skinned Latino libertarian and refuse to declare your ethnic background?  What if David Dinkins (a Black man) runs against Fernando Ferrar (a Hispanic man) for mayor of New York, and almost no Whites vote - are the White people's rights violated, and should the NVRA then apply?

Enough of that.  No one philosophizes over rlogin, they just use it.  How can we use the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

The main applications of the NVRA are the permitting of voter registration by mail and the elimination of identification requirements.

Mail applications can be found at most public (governmental) buildings: Department of Motor Vehicles and Post Offices.  Notarization or witnessing of these forms is not required; the prospective voter simply fills out the form, signs a name, and mails it.  At this point, there are a few dangers to a "hacker" - first, the registration must be mailed from within the state (a rule set up to combat fraud); second, in most states, a voter ID card - usually with nothing more than the name, congressional district, and election district for the given address - is sent to the address provided on the registration form in a "DO NOT FORWARD" envelope. If this envelope is returned, most Election Boards will remove the name so recently added to the voter rolls.

A criminal can get around this second danger in either of two ways: he can register at the last possible moment (this differs state by state, but is usually 30, 60, or 90 days before the election he wishes to vote in.  Of course, a few days must be added for mail delivery.  This works well only in states with the 30 day deadline, such as New York!) or he can use a name similar to one found in a phone book.  John Jacob Astor might not think much about getting a voter registration card in the name of Jon Jacob Aster or John Jacoby Aslor.

The "voter" must decide if he will visit the various polling places himself and vote manually or if he should risk using absentee ballots.  If using absentee ballots, in most states the decision must be made when registering to vote.  (The New York State form has a space for this purpose.)  In some states, these ballots may be sent to a third-party address, i.e., an address other than the voter's.

In most states, the absentee ballot must be sent out by the voter - and postmarked - roughly two weeks before Election Day!

While dozens or hundreds of absentee ballots sent to Hacker Travel, Incorporated may seem suspicious to some election boards, this is fairly easy to cover up with a database of personal information (name, address, date of birth, party registration) for the phantom voters, as well as latex gloves, mass market pens (such as Bic or Pilot), no-lick postage stamps, and a sponge to seal the ballot envelopes.

Though our multi-threaded voter may be an energetic marathoner, some danger lurks at the polls.  He may run into the same person (a police officer, election official, or reporter) at multiple polling places.  Even though the Voting Rights Act prohibits requiring possession of your voter registration card, and the "Motor Voter" law and various immigration laws from 1995 prevent election officials from examining other ID and even asking if you are a U.S. citizen, indications of apparent fraud should probably be avoided.

In addition, no matter how speedy our constituent, lines of people waiting to vote do occur and will slow him down.  Examination of his database in public will be difficult and suspicious; practicing alternate signatures (even in his own handwriting) impossible.

In short, to vote often, vote by mail.