Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Family Outing and The Soap Box
Two adults were led by three red headed kids into the fieldhouse at the local park. Inside they ran into a few friends as the one of the adults was handed two ballots, one the size of a sheet of legal paper and the other the size of a bath towel (retention judges). The other waited for a touch screen.
The whole process took about 20 minutes. It would have taken 19, but the Nine Year Old lobbied his dad against the Illinois Constitutional Amendment referrendum. The ballots were submitted as #127 in the precinct at 7:45 AM. Now armed with "I VOTED" stickers, the parents parted ways. One headed across the park with the kids to school, the other to work.
-----------------------
Once again, there is something apalling about our voting process. That people have to stand in line and cast ballots on paper during work hours is so 19th century. Once again, Ivy Chat proposes it's Federal Election Modernization Program:
1) All voting should be electronic. Billions of dollars in credit card transactions are handled daily from nearly any point on the planet. How hard could it be to walk into any designated polling place in the US, swipe your drivers license, and have your ballot pop up on a screen? A business man from Seattle could vote while travelling in Denver. A woman from Charlotte visiting a sick parent in Atlanta could vote. As to fraud, if Visa and Mastercard can handle all their transactions with an acceptable level of fraud risk, so could the voting system.
2) All polls should open and close nationwide at the same time. Yes, the news organizations would hate this, but it would prevent some voters from skipping voting in national races because they hear that their candidate has already lost. This would further benefit participation on down-ballot races.
3) Voting should last for 24 hours. 6 AM to 7 PM voting imposes a penalty on people working third shift jobs with dependents. Polling places should allow everyone an equal opportunity to vote.
4) Election Day should be a National Holiday. Why not move Veteran's Day to the first Tuesday after the first day of November? How better to honor the people who served than by using the very freedoms they secured to demonstrate just that freedom?
Turnout does not look to be a problem this year. Isn't it time that our government does what it can to keep participation that way?
The whole process took about 20 minutes. It would have taken 19, but the Nine Year Old lobbied his dad against the Illinois Constitutional Amendment referrendum. The ballots were submitted as #127 in the precinct at 7:45 AM. Now armed with "I VOTED" stickers, the parents parted ways. One headed across the park with the kids to school, the other to work.
-----------------------
Once again, there is something apalling about our voting process. That people have to stand in line and cast ballots on paper during work hours is so 19th century. Once again, Ivy Chat proposes it's Federal Election Modernization Program:
1) All voting should be electronic. Billions of dollars in credit card transactions are handled daily from nearly any point on the planet. How hard could it be to walk into any designated polling place in the US, swipe your drivers license, and have your ballot pop up on a screen? A business man from Seattle could vote while travelling in Denver. A woman from Charlotte visiting a sick parent in Atlanta could vote. As to fraud, if Visa and Mastercard can handle all their transactions with an acceptable level of fraud risk, so could the voting system.
2) All polls should open and close nationwide at the same time. Yes, the news organizations would hate this, but it would prevent some voters from skipping voting in national races because they hear that their candidate has already lost. This would further benefit participation on down-ballot races.
3) Voting should last for 24 hours. 6 AM to 7 PM voting imposes a penalty on people working third shift jobs with dependents. Polling places should allow everyone an equal opportunity to vote.
4) Election Day should be a National Holiday. Why not move Veteran's Day to the first Tuesday after the first day of November? How better to honor the people who served than by using the very freedoms they secured to demonstrate just that freedom?
Turnout does not look to be a problem this year. Isn't it time that our government does what it can to keep participation that way?
// posted by Chuck @ 11/04/2008 08:21:00 AM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
