It’s good to have open elections, but let’s not pretend they can be more open and more controlled, too.

Once upon a time, casting an absentee ballot in Mississippi almost took an act of the Legislature.

Strictures were in place in Mississippi and other states until about 15 years ago for one reason: Avoiding fraud.

At one time, voters had no choice about how to get listed on poll books. To enroll, they had to go to the county clerk’s office in person and complete paperwork in the presence of a court clerk.

Strictures were in place in Mississippi and other states until about 15 years ago for one reason: Avoiding fraud.

In the run-up to Election Day, there was much discussion of whether America’s bedrock “one person, one vote” principle has become too uncertain — whether election tallies can be trusted to reflect the majority view of qualified electors.

The hand-wringing comes too late.

In the South, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made it clear that the injustice of discouraging minority voters’ participation in a basic right of citizenship would not be tolerated. The law demanding access was needed and fully justified. It was during the 30 years since that what it means to be a citizen has been redefined. The idea of making sure elections were open to all citizens has morphed into two additional beliefs:

• People should be coerced into voting.

• Casting a ballot should be as effortless as possible.

Nothing evil in the beliefs. But they do make creating pristine poll books and holding treachery-free elections — which has never been easy — much more difficult.

As recently as when Bill Clinton was seeking the presidency, a couple requesting advance ballots because the election would take place while they were on vacation would have been turned down in Mississippi. Offshore workers and business travelers could vote absentee, but not casual travelers.

People planned their lives around election days. Dental appointments, elective surgeries were scheduled not to conflict with a trip to the polls.

The modern rule is that there is no rule. Any person wishing to vote in advance can do so. No questions asked.

Also until recent years, voter recruitment drives were projects of sororities, fraternities and civic clubs. From tables at flea markets and school carnivals they’d pass out literature explaining where and how to enroll. Later, groups got the authority to actually distribute enrollment forms and turn them over, already completed, to local election commissions.

Congress has become involved in two major ways. One was the so-called motor voter law in 1993. It required states to make voter registration forms available to people applying for driver’s licenses, food stamps and unemployment benefits. (Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann reports that 34,066 forms collected by the Department of Public Safety from January through October this year could not be verified.)

The other was providing cash — not just to ACORN, which has been in the spotlight, but to dozens of national groups — to recruit voters, often for same-day registration and casting ballots.

To feign surprise that paying workers to enroll voters has resulted in false forms, duplications and copying phone book listings is nuts. It was perfectly predictable.

There’s another factor. Where serving on an election commission — which pays about $2,000 or so a year in Mississippi — was once considered a civic responsibility, it’s now a job to be avoided. Where commissioners were one expected to strictly police voter eligibility, they now dread appearing on CNN accused of  “purging” rolls or denying a voter the franchise. So they err on the side of caution to the point that poll books contain far more names than the U.S. Census says there are adult residents in many Mississippi counties.

Given all of today’s technologies, it wouldn’t seem too big a hurdle that government could compile lists of the names, ages and addresses of all people alive and over 18 years of age. It wouldn’t seem too big a hurdle to assure that each person’s name be on a printout at the precinct most convenient to the people and their neighbors. And it wouldn’t seem too big a hurdle to expect all eligible people — at least those who are able-bodied — to go to their assigned precinct, sign their names and cast their ballots during a 12-hour period on a specific day, and that a speedy and accurate tally would follow.

The simplicity of elections, however, has been lost.

Policies and attitudes about voting have changed. And the looser the rules, the greater the temptation to break them.

(Charlie Mitchell is executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. Write to him at Box 821668, Vicksburg, MS 39182, or e-mail cmitchell@vicksburgpost.com.)