David Forslund <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > At 01:28 PM 12/17/2003, Tim Churches wrote: > >On Wed, 2003-12-17 at 20:45, Calle Hedberg wrote: > > > - In Norway, all citizens are registered and all above 18 years > are not > > only > > > allowed to vote but the government makes great efforts to > facilitate > > > voting - including people in hospitals, prisons, abroad, etc. > > > - In the US, on the other hand, you have to register separately > and voting > > > rights are systematically stripped away from "undesirable" > citizens (about > > > 700,000 people in Texas alone, I believe?). > > > - It's the same here in South Africa - you have to register (last > > > registration exercise was pathetic) and the ANC government > initially pushed > > > through legislation limiting voting abroad to government > employees (they > > > finally turned around on that). > > > >In Australia, you also have to register to vote, and the electoral > >register is maintained as a semi-public document. However, it is > >compulsory to register (if you are eligible - of age and a citizen), > and > >teh various electoral commission make soem efforts to locate people > who > >are not registered (but are not heavy handed about fining people who > are > >late to register). Furthermore, if you are registered on the > electoral > >roll, it is compulsory to vote, and the electoral commissions are > >**very** diligent in fining people who fail to vote (and they > actively > >investigate people who appear to have voted more than once). > > > >The whole system works well, no-one complains about loss of privacy > or > >abuse of the electoral roll data, and the cost is moderate. > Definitely > >lessons there for health systems. > > The barriers to this approach in the US are ENORMOUS. I don't see > any way this could happen without a change in our Constitution. > Without > it being compulsory, people don't want to restrict people from > registering > more than once and don't want people to have to show some kind > of identification when registering or voting. > > Any system on a world-wide scale has to span these two disparate > cultures.
I don't think there is the slightest prospect of a world-wide MPI system in any of our lifetimes. Tim C
