David Frum
America’s voting system is a disgrace
In any other democracy, voters nationwide would have cast their votes on the same kind of balloting equipment, subject to the same rules.
The parties would have had a minimal role in supervising the election, and certainly would not have been allowed to ask for rule changes as the vote occurred.
The voting would have been overseen by a national election commission, not by local judges, who might be nonpartisan — but who very well might not.
Americans worry more about voter fraud than do voters in other countries, because they are the only country without a reliable system of national identification.
Blowback
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raaaaaaaaaaacisst!!!
The Count on November 6, 2012 at 4:01 PM
Here we go…
Meric1837 on November 6, 2012 at 4:01 PM
Canadian crybaby.
wargamer6 on November 6, 2012 at 4:02 PM
Then work on fixing it, chump, instead of complaining.
thebrokenrattle on November 6, 2012 at 4:02 PM
Jut another reason to ignore Frum. A Canadian douchebag’s opinion about our elections is irrelevant.
NotCoach on November 6, 2012 at 4:03 PM
Frum is a disgrace for advocating fascist national Id schemes.
Grames on November 6, 2012 at 4:03 PM
Yeah, like Iran, Russia, or Venezuela.
The Rogue Tomato on November 6, 2012 at 4:04 PM
Frum, why dont you just go back to Canada? Everybody would be happier.
Valkyriepundit on November 6, 2012 at 4:04 PM
Go back to Canada whiner.
conservative pilgrim on November 6, 2012 at 4:04 PM
Looks like he just heard some good news about Romney.
MikeA on November 6, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Fake Republicans are a disgrace
faraway on November 6, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Lol. Oh wow, that’s HI-larious Frumcakes. Really. My sides hurt.
conservative pilgrim on November 6, 2012 at 4:05 PM
But, we are a f*cking Republic with 50 states with their own rights per the Constitution.
David Frum: a “Republican” that just isn’t content with America being America.
MeatHeadinCA on November 6, 2012 at 4:05 PM
yeesh, the comments on that article…
I have heartburn and a headache and it’s only 4.
Bee on November 6, 2012 at 4:05 PM
So his solution to our election “problem” is less local control and more federal control. Huh. Who’d have imagined?
Shump on November 6, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Oh yeah, I missed the part about Voter ID. Hmmm…..
conservative pilgrim on November 6, 2012 at 4:05 PM
The Whine before the Landslide
faraway on November 6, 2012 at 4:06 PM
What is he, Canadian or something?:)
bernzright777 on November 6, 2012 at 4:06 PM
I mean, the CNN commenters not Hot Air. lol
Bee on November 6, 2012 at 4:06 PM
Noted Socialist & pretend Republican likes Socialist, Big Government solutions. Whodathunkit?! Shocked, shocked I tell ya.
conservative pilgrim on November 6, 2012 at 4:07 PM
He can advocate fascist ideas all he wants. America Jr. is to be seen and not heard when it comes to our politics. His opinion is as relevant as Dave Dryrot’s, another Canadian who thinks we care what he thinks about anything.
NotCoach on November 6, 2012 at 4:07 PM
The tell. lol
conservative pilgrim on November 6, 2012 at 4:08 PM
The Europeans use a parlimentary system of government, which doesn’t provide the same incentives for voter fraud that our system does. (With, of course, the exception of France, whose President is directly elected). For that reason, Europeans don’t cry foul when they are required to produce ID in order to vote.
Outlander on November 6, 2012 at 4:08 PM
So are you, you fat cacazotte, but I ain’t complaining.
Rixon on November 6, 2012 at 4:09 PM
So if we ditch the electoral college segmented system of elections, we can get a national ID card en route?
Gee, where do we sign up?
Dear Canada: America is the big leagues. There’s a reason every crime movie you’ve ever watched is set here. America is a mean place run by people who care about exactly one thing: power. The system is set up to restrain these ambitious fellows, otherwise the nation would have collapsed over a century ago. In America, “cynic” has the exact definition of “not an idiot.” You, on the other hand, are a bunch of cheerful honest freezing white people. Kindly shut up about how we restrain our political class.
Dear Europe: we killed all the people on your Continent who are like us that the Nazis hadn’t killed first, and doped the rest into soporific stupor with the Marshall Plan. We’re not sure whether to say “We’re sorry” or “You’re welcome” at this point, but at any rate, shut up as well, as you don’t know any more about what you speak than the Canadians.
HitNRun on November 6, 2012 at 4:10 PM
David Frum is a disgrace.
Can’t we resolve to do better, HotAir?
ShainS on November 6, 2012 at 4:11 PM
Not sure why you guys are mocking this. Sure, Frum is a whiny liberal pansy…but he’s right. How many Republicans have screamed about Democrat vote fraud and general corruption in the past five years? All of us?
Jaibones on November 6, 2012 at 4:11 PM
..one of the good things about November 6th — no matter who wins — is we will not have to listen/pay attention to this sack of sh!it anymore. I am so-o-o-o-o over pundits. As far as I am concerned, he can FOAD.
The War Planner on November 6, 2012 at 4:12 PM
NotDavidFrum: “America’s system of voting is severely deficient in that free, salted butter is not provided to each voter upon the casting of a ballot.”
wte9 on November 6, 2012 at 4:12 PM
Doesn’t matter if any of his ideas have merit. He’s a Canadian. He needs to talk to the hand.
NotCoach on November 6, 2012 at 4:12 PM
Hey, does this mean that we agree, at least on this one point, with liberals (re: the importance of voter fraud)?
Why yes, I believe it does. The fact that citizens engage in wrong doing does not justify making it easier for the political class to engage in wrongdoing.
Nothing like ignorant foreign criticism to forge a small consensus.
HitNRun on November 6, 2012 at 4:12 PM
What is so hard about the term “sovereign state”? Why can people not grasp that concept?
ButterflyDragon on November 6, 2012 at 4:13 PM
Voter ID with a driver’s license or a government issues ID clears it all up. Easy law to pass. What’s the big deal? You have show it to buy liquor, check into a hotel, or rent a car. Oh wait….
HomeoftheBrave on November 6, 2012 at 4:13 PM
So now we’re gonna hafta listen to how screwed up the voting system is, how the electoral college ought to be abolished, how Romney bought the election, and how voters were suppressed, for four years, because Romney wins? Great! Just great!
SailorMark on November 6, 2012 at 4:15 PM
RINOs who’ve worked for Repub administrations are like precious gems to the MSM.
Paul-Cincy on November 6, 2012 at 4:17 PM
That may well be the single most awesome thing I’ve ever read here on HotAir.
Fabozz on November 6, 2012 at 4:18 PM
Failing to mention as usual, that those localities are completely and totally dominated by democratics. If democratics want their votes in their localities to count they are responsible for getting the machines to work and be available for voters in adequate numbers.
They pull this crap in Dade and Broward as well. Remember, the butterfly ballot was designed by a democratic.
I like the virtual admission however that democratics governments are ‘less capable’. We can all agree on that.
slickwillie2001 on November 6, 2012 at 4:18 PM
He is just echoing the UN election Observers. If they would have said, “Great System”, He would have written an article on how great the system is.
CableDude on November 6, 2012 at 4:20 PM
I kind of figured Frum would go full Napoleon on us today for something. He can’t resist the urge.
He’s a little lighter on the negative adjectives than I expected though.
Dusty on November 6, 2012 at 4:21 PM
It seems holder/team has been he!! bent on seeing to it that any tom, dick, and harrette votes whenever/however they want? NOT one bit of ID required? AS long as the d’s come out on top, no problem, but IF a R gets on top, katy bar the door, gotta change things in mid-stream?
Me thinks we will have months and months of this if bho gets the boot? And I PRAY he does!
L
letget on November 6, 2012 at 4:22 PM
How about, “no” — does “no” work for you?
It’s not that we lack a reliable system of national identification, it’s that we turn a blind eye to fraud and intimidation right before us — and fail to penalize those who perform it or benefit from it.
People fail to realize how corrosive voter fraud is. They think it’s the difference between their guy winning and the other guy winning — but, as history shows us, it’s much, much worse. It’s the difference between the losing party saying, “drat”, going home to lick their wounds, and vowing to do better next time — as opposed to saying, “I’ll never get a fair shake by following the law” and taking up arms in the night.
A fraudulent vote isn’t a vote for a Republican or a Democrat — it’s a vote for mob rule and civil insurrection. It shouldn’t get a slap on the wrist and a chuckled, “oh, I guess we got a little too caught up in the excitement” — it should be looked upon as much beyond the pale as changing highway signs to route traffic off a cliff.
cthulhu on November 6, 2012 at 4:25 PM
The system is a mess. We need strong voter ID laws, we need state databases to control the multiple voting, we need to prosecute orginizations like ACORN and their ilk, we need to clean it up. What we do not need is more federal control. And I will fight the elimination of the electoral college to the end.
Jason Taylor Sacked You on November 6, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Typical statistic solution; Centralize and standardize, one size fits all.
KMC1 on November 6, 2012 at 4:29 PM
Go soak your head, Frum, you Canadian jackass! You obviously haven’t been paying the least bit of attention (either that, or you’ve had your head in very dark places) because we have been asking/seeking to have voter ID laws in place for years. For example, in my state of South Carolina, our legislature passed a voter ID law that was set to go into effect with this election. But the Democrat, the DEMOCRAT party sued in court to have the law tossed out saying that a voter ID law would suppress the minority vote and disenfranchise minority voters. Bullshiite! For everyone’s information especially Frum, even if one cannot qualify for a driver’s license, you can still obtain a state PICTURE ID for a low cost that can be used when voting in any election. They’re available at ANY DMV office. And from the times I’ve been in there, minorities have very little difficulty getting there. However, common sense is in extreme short supply around here because the judge(s) sort of agreed with the Demonrats because while they did not toss the law completely out, they did postpone its implementation until 2013.
Furthermore, Frum, you need to get out in the world more. While there may be problems with voting irregularities in America and there may be some countries who do some things better in regards to the voting process (I must point out again that some of the things that these other countries do better we’ve been asking or working for but they keep getting tossed out in courts of law when challenged by the Democrat party; wonder why that is?), there are many other countries who are a whole lot worse than we are. Tell you what, Frum, when you get those other countries (Iran and Venezuela come to mind) cleaned up, then you can come clean up America’s system of voting.
Finally, Frum, it’s obvious that you, along with much of the Democrat party are still butthurt and bitter about the 2000 election. Get over it already. It happened, the outcome didn’t go your way (tough luck, jackass!), it’s in the past. Move past it already. You and your fellow liberals inability to let go of 2000 is what motivates all the division and bitterness that we are seeing today. Let go of it, for crying out loud. Failing that, seek some professional help.
Cannon Fodder on November 6, 2012 at 4:41 PM
Seriously.
That’s biblical.
Washington Nearsider on November 6, 2012 at 4:47 PM
Hey, folks, don’t be hatin’ on all the Canadians because one of ‘em is an idiot! That would be as if everyone in Canada hated us for Michael Moore, or Joe Biden, or Dave Rywall, or … oh, heck, that list is just too long.
Remember canopfor, Canucklehead, and the other righteous Canadians who post here.
As for you, Tweedle-Frum, when we want to hear from you or Tweedle-D. Brooks, we’ll yank on your leash.
Mary in LA on November 6, 2012 at 4:56 PM
The voting would have been overseen by a national election commission
Having the Executive branch of the government overseeing all the elections is a recipe for voter fraud.
RJL on November 6, 2012 at 5:17 PM
Frum really does not understand the concept of United States, does he?
GWB on November 6, 2012 at 10:52 PM