dagblog - Comments for "An Election Day Wish: End Precinct Voting"

Besides the old "you get to

EmmaZahn — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 02:48:39 +0000

In reply to It's hard for me to envision

Besides the old "you get to feel solidarity and pride as everyone does the same thing on the same day" thing? (Always way overblown, mho, a Norman Rockwell mythic kind of thing, nice idea but rarely reality.)

Just for the record, I was thinking more along the lines of a grand holiday or an old fashioned feast day type of communal experience - the Mardi Gras or the 4th of July kind of thing where a good time is had by all, not some smaltzy, kumbaya, everyone-hold-hands event.

It's hard for me to envision

artappraiser — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 01:48:48 +0000

In reply to Dave Dayan's notes that

It's hard for me to envision a down side to as much early voting as possible, by whatever method. Can anyone come up with any strong reasons against it? Besides the old "you get to feel solidarity and pride as everyone does the same thing on the same day" thing? (Always way overblown, mho, a Norman Rockwell mythic kind of thing, nice idea but rarely reality.) I don't think it would even ruin it for horse race junkies, as inevitably, the same people who buy Christmas presents on Christmas Eve would end up voting on the day.

Even if people can't mail in their ballot, I like the idea of them getting a ballot in the mail and variable ways and variable deadlines to submit it. I betcha that would increase voting in mid-term elections, and mho, the low rate of voting in midterms, as opposed to presidential years, is a major source of our dysfunctional Congress problem

Dave Dayan's notes that

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:41:38 +0000

In reply to Irony is, just so happens

Dave Dayan's notes that Washington & Oregon 100% vote by mail. Fine with me - satisfies the "let me vote from where I am, when it's convenient" criteria. Could be combined email/regular mail. For a hurricane zone, you can also pass around a laptop using certain constraints (maybe a signed roster with a ballot).

The big issue is election after election, certain methods fail repeatedly. And others like voting by mail simply work. Yes, if new problems arise, we fix them, but how come we can't fix a straightforward issue like "not enough polling places/machines"? And the answer is obvious - some people don't want to.

Also got me thinking about

artappraiser — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:37:24 +0000

In reply to Irony is, just so happens

Also got me thinking about how conventional wisdom says the U.S.P.S. days are numbered. But but but...also how everything on the internet uses their zip codes to locate anything. They look to have much more potential for extended life than voting precincts.

Irony is, just so happens

artappraiser — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:33:49 +0000

In reply to An Election Day Wish: End Precinct Voting

Irony is, just so happens that pencil and paper provisional ballots are the most efficient method available right now for a bunch of people in the NYC area.

It's not easy to email a vote if you ain't got electricity.

I just had to give my cellular internet code to my next door neighbor, her DSL is down as are are the landlines for 4 houses in a row, including mine. There were two Verizon landline guys here today, they can't figure out how to fix that problem (yes, they were here separately, one for my repair ticket, the other for hers, and no they have no way to coordinate that kind of thing, everyone's call is an individual repair ticket and they will get onery about handling more than one ticket at a time.) Both of em said they will be reporting to their supervisor who will send someone else to try to fix it, but we were also informed that might be that they can't touch anything before ConEd fixes the busted transformer and downedelectric line on the same pole.

It gets even more complicated, though. The reason the neighbor wanted to get internet from me is that she couldn't get to work because she hadn't been able to get any gasoline and her tank was nearly empty. I got some yesterday, using the internet, gasbuddy.com. Having checked into gasbuddy the last 24 hours and seeing the on-the-ground situation, I see clearly that something is going on where only 1 station out of 5 in a zip code gets delivery and sells at any one time. There are people without electricity or internet that can't do that....and are just driving around wasting gas looking for gas. And don't know some secret gas god somewhere is allocating 1 out of 5 stations in a zip code get delivery at a time.

I haven't really crystallized in my own head why I am reporting this here. I guess it's something along the lines of: careful not to put all your eggs in one basket. All systems break and also can be hacked. There are more than a few on Long Island grateful that they have fireplaces tonight.

2nd prize two weeks in

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:13:53 +0000

In reply to I have been looking for

2nd prize *two* weeks in Philadelphia?

I have been looking for

EmmaZahn — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:05:14 +0000

In reply to An Election Day Wish: End Precinct Voting

I have been looking for somewhere to post this and since you mentioned American Idol, you win:

Where Simon Cowell got his idea for American Idol?

In an age where we can pull

Richard Day — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:01:16 +0000

In reply to An Election Day Wish: End Precinct Voting

In an age where we can pull $1000 out of any ATM worldwide, it's absurd that we're stuck in an age-old tradition of going to a particular precinct on a particular day to stand in a pretty retro booth to vote.

There is more truth in that one line that I have heard all day from cable.

I just voted. I had to walk down one flight of stairs and wander into the next building.

There were more voting assistants than voters.

There are only a couple/three hundred voters in this area anyway. All the residents here are wearing stickers by noon.

There was even a screw up with my address. I filled out a form, gave them my DL and voted. My ballot was not provisional in any sense of the word.

A one page (both sides) ballot...

But this mess in Florida and, evidently Ohio is unjustifiable.

There are many ways that we

DF — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:13:18 +0000

In reply to An Election Day Wish: End Precinct Voting

There are many ways that we could make voting easier and more secure. That we don't speaks volumes about the process.

Well when I squint,

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:00:47 +0000

In reply to Where do you live? Way out

Well when I squint, touchscreens remind me of 3 ton voting booths. Where's my pizza, my dog, my hair gel? How can I make a sane voting decision without life support systems like telly and my flowerbed, especially my neglected rhododendra? It's disorienting being so far from my negative ion generator. And did I mention I hate people? Especially touching things after other people? Especially if they voted Republican right in front of me - how unsanitary.