The facts speak for themselves. Keep up the good research.

First, how do all of those people without some kind of photo ID cash checks? How do they travel? How do they get into a federal courthouse?

Second, why don't states that require photo ID to vote issue voter ID cards with photos?

If certain states are going to insist on Voter IDs, then it only makes sense for them to tie voter registration to the issuance of driver's licenses and state-issued photo identification cards. Perhaps it's time to renew that push.

Over There and sbkr, your suggestions make great sense, and would definitely ease the way for voters. Which is precisely why they've never been implemented.

Why not make Voting Day a Sunday instead of a Tuesday? Because far more people would be able to vote. Why not set up polling places at shopping malls and post offices, where people are more likely to go? Because it would make voting more convenient. Why not test poll workers before hiring, for accuracy and ability to handle large data tasks? Because it would make screwups less likely.

We're taught from childhood that every citizen of this country has the right to vote, but the truth is that only those whose votes are wanted have the right. Everybody else has to fight tooth and claw to get the right supposedly guaranteed by our Constitution.

Every day I wake up thinking I can't be more ashamed to be an American, and it seems every day lately I'm proven wrong. When I was growing up I was proud and happy to be from the US.

I miss that feeling.

Sorry, but if you can't prove you are the person in whose name you are voting, you should not be allowed to cast a vote. It's too easy for people to take advantage of a more lenient system, and we have very good reason to want to avoid voter fraud. Her case is really extreme, too. How many people are in a similar situation? Major health bills, a recent move, and her i.d. was stolen. And no available birth certificate.

Really, really bad example to pull at the heart strings. And to lead with that example is even worse.

Dear Editor:

Salon's shameful two are Farhad Manjoo and Joan Walsh. Despite the overwhelming evidence of vote suppression through a variety of tactics in the 2004 election, Mr. Manjoo wrote not one, but two articles that fiercely maintained the status quo while condemning those that raised very legitimate concerns about such tactics and their impact upon the outcome.

In a bizarre new world of theory and conjecture, Swift Boat Veterans get away with their so-called "truths," but those on the "left" who dare float plausible opposition are immediately cast as fringe lunatics. Mr. Manjoo even went as far as to appropriate my own protest to his first article as an example of what people in his position need to do to better explain themselves.

Following the second article, which definitively asserted that the election was not stolen, one reader wrote that, conversely, there was no evidence that existed that would prove that it wasn't. Following a very vociferous defense of Mr. Manjoo, Ms. Walsh acknowledged that this person was correct, and that the headline and/or article should have reflected this. Too little, too late.

So, here we are again... on the surface we're debating issues of terrorism and morality as though George W. Bush was delivered some sort of mandate, when in reality we should be talking about real democracy and election reform.

The so-called right has nurtured and promoted their own disastrous conspiracy theories for far too long now. When those on the left promote their own in search of a kernal of truth, it is long past time to re-draw this line in the sand.

I challenge the writers and editors of Salon to further explore the nuances of the issues that confront us in these uncertain times.

Sincerely,

Michael Carr

Thanks for making this the lead story. Thanks for breaking it down in a way that makes sense--down to the state/local/personal level, where VOTING ACTUALLY HAPPENS.

But I'm still licking my wounds from two years ago:

To Quote Farhad Manjoo from Nov. 10th, 2004--a stunning few days after the election and with such arrogant assurance:

There's little question that the American election process is a mess, and needs to be cleaned up. But even if this particular election wasn't perfect, it was still most likely good enough for us to have faith in the results.

I was shocked by that arrogant story filing so close to the election date that I wanted to be one of those cry babies who cancel their subscriptions. Farhad, in the end you may bloody be right in some cases, but it seems you (and Salon) just didn't want to go there or entertain the notion that "a mess" could be a deeply corrupt and corruptable system which can really screw with true democracy.

There is such a fine line between fraud, disenfranchisement, suppression and ineptitude that I think by now it's safe to say that voting is unfair in this country and to dismiss these transgressions as “messes” is to have your heads in the sand. I’m no scholar on this issue, although I have read a fair amount.

All I want from Salon is to CONSIDER these problems as real problems and not dismiss them out of hand as was done in Nov. of ’04. I think you are starting to do that now and I appreciate it.

I like to see the muckraker spirit. It’s why I signed on.

I must ring in here and say I find it both curious and obnoxious that Salon can condemn the states they list for vote "suppression" which is, of course, part of election stealing but then still cling to it's absurd defense of the integrity of the 2004 election. Besides, given Salon's position what difference does it make if these states do such nefarious things anyway since there's no absolute and irrefutable proof that Republican "suppression" of votes wasn't enough to turn the last election? I'd say that any reasonable person would have to conclude first, that particularly in combination with the rigging of electronic voting machines our election system has no integrity whatsoever, and second that Salon's position on this whole question is simply indefensible. I'd like to see Salon publicly reverse the shameful position it took on this issue previously.