I do want this site to allow users to remain relatively anonymous, I do not supoort censorship, and I want to ensure users are able to freely spread their ideas.
I also believe it should be verified in some way that only United States citizens are allowed to create and contribute to the policy ideas and suggestions on this board. If that can be done with something like ID being required for profile verification, or needing to link a permanent phone number to an account, as long as that required information is not able to be publicly presented.
I fear that without this type of safeguard, the site will be subject to foreign influence, bot enacted propaganda campaigns, and general trolling.
Others who have knowledge of cyber security will definitely have more knowledge on how this could be best implemented, and I would love to hear their feedback.
While it’s probably impossible to completely ensure that only US Citizens are part of the process there has to be some way to minimize foreign influence and it would be good if such a process were in place.
Verify Voter Registration Status (Full Name, zipcode, and DOB I think are all that’s required). The information used for voter verification can be kept private on the profile if people aren’t wanting their identities made public.
The exception would be to keep their zipcode public on their profile.
If someone tries to verify themselves and someone else has already claimed the same voter entry, the conflicting profile can be presented. The user can then recover their existing profile or if they know that profile is not what they created, they can push a button to send it to the moderators for reconciliation. This obviously implies some process for distinguishing between two claimants, probably involving uploading some form of proof of citizenship.
The fraudsters would be prosecutable for identify theft by claiming a voter registration that is not their own. Knowledge that the site will refer cases to the authorities for identity theft and communicate about prosecutions should deter people from falsely claiming a voter registration that isn’t their own.