Best and worst
Yesterday, there were 8-10 hour lines for early voting in Atlanta. In that, I saw both the best and worst of America.
It's sad statement that the system is so poor that we end up with a situation like that.
And yes, I recognize that lines will keep many voters away,
But, on the other hand, I gotta pay tribute to those people who did wait in that line.
It's inspirational to me.
Fight on.
It's sad statement that the system is so poor that we end up with a situation like that.
And yes, I recognize that lines will keep many voters away,
But, on the other hand, I gotta pay tribute to those people who did wait in that line.
It's inspirational to me.
Fight on.
posted by mikevotes at
6:49 AM
6 Comments:
Ironically, the loudest, most strident (and militant) proponent of Evangelical Democracy would itself fail to meet the criteria of free and fair elections set out by the UN.
Not unlike the loudest and most strident Chritianists and their concern for my beliefs and behavior.
Hmmm....
By
-epm, at 8:38 AM
I couldn't agree more on both counts.
The US Congress needs to set some reasonable standards for elections. Clearly there are local officials who are either too incompetent or too corrupt to be trusted with the job.
By
Anonymous, at 10:05 AM
EPM, I watched a weird documentary awhile back on the 2004 election, non-partisan, it just followed some people around on election day, and the most interesting one was the international election observer who kept being befuddled by people being turned away at voting locations.
....
Abi, The actual voting mechanisms are left to the states, but you gotta figure that, being Dems, they will probably push for rules encouraging more voting/voters.
By
mikevotes, at 11:35 AM
The situation has improved in a lot of states since 2004.
As I understand, the biggest problem has been a shortage of printers. The law in some states requires the results to be printed and verified by the voter before the vote is officially cast, and a few swing states have been unable to get additional printers from the vendor. I believe this is the problem in FL and GA.
There are some states that desperately need more voting machines and more polling locations, and early voting is a poor substitute for that. But every person in those lines for early voting is one fewer in line on Tuesday.
I think that the mid-terms will be a lot better. And the day that it becomes in the Republicans' interest to have greater turnout is the day that massive numbers of new machines will be purchased and new locations opened up. I think one of the major lessons that the GOP will take away from this election is that making it harder to vote hurts Republicans, too.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 11:59 AM
I hope that this is just because there are so many early voters. I hope the situation will be drastically different on election day.
By the way, Obama's illegal aunt is the best late swift boat. Pretty weak.
By
Praguetwin, at 12:03 PM
Todd, Florida also had an early hitch in that they had some kind of voter verification machine that was breaking down, but they seem to have gotten that worked out.
And I wouldn't hold your breath on Republicans encouraging the vote.
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Praguetwin, I don't think it will be. It's my belief that election day turnout will be huge. We've got a system set up for a certain turnout rate, and in areas where that's being shattered, that's just the way it is.
The black turnout thus far has been pretty huge, although it's unclear whether it really means a substantially larger turnout (my guess) or whether it's just people trying to get their votes in early.
....
And, I don't know what to make of this little stink. Kinda waiting to see how the media covers it, because there's really not much there unless the media turns it into something huge.
My guess is they're trying to fire up the anti-immigration Republicn folks who have never been happy with McCain.
By
mikevotes, at 12:23 PM
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