dagblog - Comments for "Election Day chaos: Just say no!"

All easy listening,

acanuck — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:39:09 +0000

In reply to Election Day chaos: Just say no!

All easy listening, Quinn.
But I'm expanding my list, the first addition would be Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies.
And an old, old favourite (Canadian spelling for your reading pleasure): Buffy Sainte-Marie.
I caught her in concert a month ago; she sounds as great as ever and, in tight leather pants and high heels, still looks totally hot.

That's it? C'mon Canuck.

quinn esq — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:57:18 +0000

In reply to Election Day chaos: Just say no!

That's it? C'mon Canuck. 'Fess up to the secret sins! Shania... Avril... Alanis... Anne Murray... Nelly Furtado...

I'll take Joni, Feist, Jane Siberry & kd lang. ;-)

My personal taste in Canadian

acanuck — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:31:51 +0000

In reply to Election Day chaos: Just say no!

My personal taste in Canadian chanteuses runs to Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden and Loreena McKennitt. But I take your point about Céline Dion.
I understand why politicians cling to the principle of states' rights, but I believe the public would welcome at the very least minimum nationwide standards.
The same legislation should ideally spell out exactly who is eligible to vote -- for example, felons who have served their sentences?
Ignore Quinn's rant (below). He overstates how badly we mistreate Newfoundlanders.
Only occasionally do their ballot boxes fall overboard during the long sea voyage to the mainland.

I say, "Let the market

quinn esq — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:30:35 +0000

In reply to Election Day chaos: Just say no!

I say, "Let the market decide! Why not limit the number of votes in the Electoral College to, say, 401. Then, any state which did not meet certain minimum performance standards in its most recent election.... lost their EV's. It'd create a constant incentive for improvement. States would go out to the best providers of solid systems, boosting competition. The candidates could save money not having to campaign in Florida, Ohio, etc. Plus, the daft buggers wouldn't keep screwing up your elections.

We already do this with Newfoundland. We haven't bothered counting their votes since 1949, and they've never bothered asking the results. We let their more amusing candidates come to Parliament, speak from time to time, but their votes aren't counted either. So far, so good.

Friggin' pompous Canadians.

☠enghis — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:39:09 +0000

In reply to Election Day chaos: Just say no!

Friggin' pompous Canadians. At least our most famous singer isn't Celine Dion.

For the record, NYC polls usually work well, even though our voting machines were built in the cro-magnon era. The problem in the U.S. is that the election boards are localized, so polling processes are very inconsistent. Fortunately, the poorly-run election systems are only in states that don't matter, like FL and OH.

When you think of the

quinn esq — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:44:36 +0000

In reply to Election Day chaos: Just say no!

When you think of the absolutely mountainous effort that the Obama campaign has had to put into registering people, making sure they're not being scammed or blocked or cheated out of voting, the incredible volunteer effort, the paperwork on and on... it's just insane. When all that time could have gone into informing voters about issues, discussing the candidates, people's lives, whatever.

In the end, it's a staggering success, what the campaign has pulled off. But it'd be nice to see it simplified next time, so the concentration can move more to health care, finances, etc.

And for today, I'll take it - just as long as those gets counted tomorrow. Otherwise.... well, I'm gonna run to the end of my street, and throw snowballs at the White House. (I got a good arm. Can almost see DC from here.)

It never takes us more than

Donal — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:43:06 +0000

In reply to Election Day chaos: Just say no!

It never takes us more than 15 minutes in Central PA, either, but we're at a new polling place this year.