Facebook is a Many Varied Thing

A user can do a lot of things on Facebook. Want to join the Mafia? You can. Want to build cities? Farms? Go fishing? Sure thing. But what if you want to register to vote on Facebook? Can you actually do that? If you live in the extremely progressive state of Washington, you can now register to vote on Facebook.

The Strange Northwest

The northwest is already home to some odd voting rules. For example, in the state of Oregon, all voting, I mean all voting is done by mail in ballots. There are no polling places in Oregon. Washington state also has voting by mail. Now, Washington, has introduced registering to vote via Facebook. How long with it be until we can do actual voting via G+, Twitter or Facebook? Another strange thing about the Northwest is a law in Oregon that does not allow drivers to pump their own gas. All gas stations are full-serve. But I digress……

How Will Washington Residents Register to Vote Via Facebook?

Washington residents will register to vote on Facebook through the help of a Facebook app from the Secretary of State’s office Facebook page. For those Facebook users who are interested in registering to vote via a Facebook app, but who may be concerned about the lack of privacy and what Facebook will do with their private information, the SOS office in Washington assures citizens that only they will have your information, not Facebook.

Users will still have to enter into a form identifying information such as a state issued ID or a driver’s license number to see if it matches with a state database. But, how safe and secure is that? Sounds like registering to vote via Facebook is ripe for voter fraud. We’ll see how this goes.

Your thoughts

I think this is a convenient way for getting more people on the voting rolls. I also think this is a way to encourage voter fraud. It also may be racist since the same argument can be made by La Raza and the NAACP against requiring a state issued ID for online voter registration as they similarly argue against requiring a voter ID for actual voting. ‘

What are your thoughts?