Oli, I guess I'm not surprised by your student's paper. I don't know whether some people don't pay attention, misunderstand or what.
As far as voting goes, I think in the past I've had to show my ID a couple times but I don't know if it's mandatory. However, I've been voting by mail since before the last election, so it's been a while.
Call me a geek,

but part of me likes to actually go to the poll to vote, especially if it's an important election. Then again, it's so easy to vote from home. I just received my sample ballot and have a chance to go thru all the freakin' propositions that CA always has and will try to get thru them.
TIS