Serious Discussion - What should voting requirements be?

[minionofmidas]

16 years of age, not a certified lunatic, permanent residence in the place you want to vote in, showing up at the polling station in person.

[minionofmidas]

So, Lewis, you oppose absentee ballots.  Even for disabled? military? etc.?

The reasons I oppose absentee ballots are twofold.
One - I feel that voting should remain a communal act
Two - less mystical, more to the point: Absentee voting endangers the secrecy of the vote. This goes especially in the military. Voting precincts should be set up in military barracks. For expats, voting precincts should be set up in American consulates, as is indeed done by some European countries. (If they should be allowed to vote at all, that is - they are not permanent residents of the US. As long as non-citizens are not allowed to vote in the state they reside in, though, they should be allowed to vote in the state they came from as a kind of second best option.)
I'm not opposed to exceptions for the disabled or for people living in extremely out of the way locations. Also, such postal ballots must be in by the time the polls close.

[minionofmidas]

16 years of age, not a certified lunatic, permanent residence in the place you want to vote in, showing up at the polling station in person.

Not everyone can get off of work to vote, and polling stations arn't always open very late.

That is why, in democracies, elections are either held on the sunday or polling day is a national holiday.

[minionofmidas]

16 years of age, not a certified lunatic, permanent residence in the place you want to vote in, showing up at the polling station in person.

Not everyone can get off of work to vote, and polling stations arn't always open very late.

That is why, in democracies, elections are either held on the sunday or polling day is a national holiday.

National holiday is a good idea, but local elections happen all the time.

There's 52 sundays in the year.

[minionofmidas]

16 years of age, not a certified lunatic, permanent residence in the place you want to vote in, showing up at the polling station in person.

Not everyone can get off of work to vote, and polling stations arn't always open very late.

That is why, in democracies, elections are either held on the sunday or polling day is a national holiday.

National holiday is a good idea, but local elections happen all the time.

There's 52 sundays in the year.

I work on Sundays. They would have to make local no work holidays (could you imagine the problems this would cause across state lines? Say your bank in California is closed because they have a local holiday going on.)  

Yeah, I know there's some people who have to work sundays...a problem not usually adressed over here...of course, it only becomes problematic if that means you can't make it to the polling stations during opening hours (remember that the American last minute rush to the polls wouldn't exist since most people could vote during the day) - a problem possibly exacerbated (sp?) by a long commute.