Reduction of Ghost Voting

In January, the Legislature will begin a new session which will have changes made due to objections by citizens. In particular, citizens are dissatisfied with lawmakers being able to vote for other members when they are absent from a voting session (also known as ghost voting). One solution, authorized by the speaker's chief of staff, involved the use of technology which is 10 fingerprint voting machines. Eight of the machines will be placed amongst the desks of the representatives, while two will occupy the member's lounge, as to serve as more accessible to those who are away from their desks.

At this point the machines are not seen as a foolproof solution, because according to Vice Chairwoman Helen Giddings, "there ain't no 100 percent solution" for protecting the identities of the voters. There is always the chance that a lawmaker can unjustly vote for another member without their permission. Another factor to point out is that the voting machines are optional; House members have the choice of registering their fingerprint only if they wish to vote by this method.

The fact of the matter is that House Representatives have a very tight schedule and are supposed to vote on thousands of bills in short amounts of time. Lawmakers are forced to try to balance their duties such as meeting with lobbyists while making time to vote, which isn't always possible. The use of the voting machine would help to assure that ghost voting isn't occurring, but for those who choose not to use it, the issue will not be eliminated. On top of that, for those lawmakers who do wish to use the fingerprint machine, they must be present for the voting sessions in order to input their votes.

I believe that the fingerprint voting machines are a clever idea that, to some extent, can reduce ghost voting. Ghost voting has the ability to let lawmakers have their vote heard when they are away, yet there will always be the chance of identity theft, or cheating on votes. Overall, the method almost seems to be an unnecessary step unless the House Representatives can agree to put forth the effort to attend the sessions and input their votes. Without the votes of our lawmakers, it seems like bills may slip by due to the lack of time or desire to attend the sessions.