Early Voting & Voting Online..

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
Gotta get rid of the Electoral College for that to happen... totally see why it was needed back when, but with today's transportation and communication it is no longer needed. Because of it thousands of votes are tossed in the trash*... as you said, EVERY vote should count. Oh, and lest we not forget that the people have elected someone only to have the electoral college decide to ignore their votes completely and do what they wanted... the majority of states have no punishments on the books for when that happens... which I find incredibly disturbing.

That's been the case for a while now, and No One has put much effort into changing it... if they won't change what needs changing, then change them... power of being a voter. I'll be doing my part, maybe if I harass enough I can get a fire lit under my kin. (In Laws always vote I'm talking my side just for the record!)


*According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2000
Bush 50,456,002 Gore 50,999,897
Yet Bush was declared the victor...
So basically, nationwide 543,896 votes just flat out did not count.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Quote:
Let's see, in Ohio, I've used the "lever" voting machine where you flipped little switches (imagine a 3'x4' board) and *huge* red handled lever you pulled in one direction to "tabulate" your vote, paper "mark an "x" here, the punch card ballot, the bubble scantron sheet, and lately the touchscreen machine. Ohio is completely dysfunctional with regards to Boards of Elections. Cuyhoga County (Cleveland) is completely inept at managing the process. I've been voting in the same precinct in Portage County for 11 years without any issue whatsoever, regardless of the technology.

Even being in IT, I am loathe to endorse online voting. The DC online system was hacked in a test today and I know how easy fraud can happen online even with "secure" business systems. IMHO (and in deference to my grandfather who was a product and ardent first-generation American), election day should be a national holiday and you should get your butt to the polling place, in person, to vote on the one day. Military and shut-ins would be excluded, of course, and could vote absentee. The campaigning near the polling place should stop, too.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Quote:
Gotta get rid of the Electoral College for that to happen... totally see why it was needed back when, but with today's transportation and communication it is no longer needed. Because of it thousands of votes are tossed in the trash*... as you said, EVERY vote should count. Oh, and lest we not forget that the people have elected someone only to have the electoral college decide to ignore their votes completely and do what they wanted... the majority of states have no punishments on the books for when that happens... which I find incredibly disturbing.

That's been the case for a while now, and No One has put much effort into changing it... if they won't change what needs changing, then change them... power of being a voter. I'll be doing my part, maybe if I harass enough I can get a fire lit under my kin. (In Laws always vote I'm talking my side just for the record!)


*According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2000
Bush 50,456,002 Gore 50,999,897
Yet Bush was declared the victor...
So basically, nationwide 543,896 votes just flat out did not count.

So how do you feel about the election of 1860?

 

[FarmerJamie]

Quote:
Every *legitimate* vote should count.

 

[herefordlovinglady]

have not read the posts of this thread

just wanted you to know I either vote absentee or go to the court house prior to election day, depending on what is going on around the farm and where we are going to be.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Greetings from the infamous Palm Beach County, FL!!

I've been a poll worker since 2004, lived in Miami during the 2000 election. Things have always gone well in my precinct and I aim to keep them that way. We have those large scan-tron cards to use at the polls, lots of early voting sites open 7 days a week, and absentee ballots you can return in person or in the mail.

But we rarely have much of a line at our precinct. Nor are there many campaigners there to rally for their candidates. Some of that is due to the number of folks who do early voting or absentee ballots. Our precinct is at an elementary school and things get difficult during pick-up time, especially for voters who aren't there to pick up children, they still have to wait in the long car line.

The main thing I think is to be an educated & dedicated voter. Only a percentage of folks eligable to vote are even registered, and only a percentage of those registered voters exercise that privilege. And those who do vote don't always make a decision about every race or issue, many will only vote for presidents, governors & mayors, and leave the judges, commissioners, & other elected officials' races blank, as well as the amendments.

Palm Beach County's Supervisor of Elections Office has a great website where you can type in your address and find your precinct and print out a sample ballot for the upcoming election. It also has links to each candidate's website for further information. I'm encouraging everyone to do their homework and come to the polls with their marked sample ballot in hand.

 

[Dunkopf]

Good post. It's a shame more people don't vote or bother to familiarize themselves with the issues. If you didn't vote then please don't complain about the results.

I wish they could require clear language on the amendments. So many are difficult to understand. If you vote yes you are actually voting against the issue and no means you are voting for the issue. Stuff like that confuses a lot of people. Those amendments make so much difference. Judges and such are not publicized at all. So unless there is a highly publicized effort against the judge in place you really don't know what they are about.

All I can say is get out and vote. No matter what persuasion you are. If you are disappointed because you didn't get everything you were hoping for, don't stay at home. Remember it can be much worse. Voting is the only way to make your voice even begin to mean anything.

Yes PM, I sincerely hope they dump the electoral college some day. States are represented by their House members. If they want even then why do states like Wyoming have 2 Senators when their population is less than the smallest city in Ca. To me that more than equals out any shortage they may have. If the majority vote would have counted in 2000 we would never have gone to war in Iraq. Stuff like that means something.

 

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
A great big MESS... that's what that (and the following years) was. I hope to hades that there is NEVER an issue that so divides our country like slavery did. SO many lives lost... just such a waste. Don't get me wrong, slavery had to go absolutely, but it's a shame that so many from all sides had to die to see it done.

In war a victor may be declared, but every side loses... in that one it was over 600,000 dead and over 400,000 injured before it was said and done... not to mention mass destruction of the very land they were trying to control.

Such a dang waste. Sorry, that's sort of a touchy spot... why it had to escalate to that point I will never understand. As I said I hope like hades there will never be another time like that for our country. Keep the battles on the debate floor please.

But as to the numbers... Abe got 39% of the votes... and he was given 59.4% of the Electoral Votes... Seward his nearest competition got 29.5% of the votes but only 3.96% of the Electoral Votes... so another example of the EC not matching the citizen's votes... but in this case there was a large enough (10.3%) gap between the top two runners so there was a clear victor with regular AND EC votes... that's not at all like the Bush/Gore mess where when the EC met after the votes had been counted and Gore was the clear winner but they gave the office to Bush anyways...

Any who care to snoop, there's more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election

 

[FarmerJamie]

Quote:
A great big MESS... that's what that (and the following years) was. I hope to hades that there is NEVER an issue that so divides our country like slavery did. SO many lives lost... just such a waste. Don't get me wrong, slavery had to go absolutely, but it's a shame that so many from all sides had to die to see it done.

In war a victor may be declared, but every side loses... in that one it was over 600,000 dead and over 400,000 injured before it was said and done... not to mention mass destruction of the very land they were trying to control.

Such a dang waste. Sorry, that's sort of a touchy spot... why it had to escalate to that point I will never understand. As I said I hope like hades there will never be another time like that for our country. Keep the battles on the debate floor please.

But as to the numbers... Abe got 39% of the votes... and he was given 59.4% of the Electoral Votes... Seward his nearest competition got 29.5% of the votes but only 3.96% of the Electoral Votes... so another example of the EC not matching the citizen's votes... but in this case there was a large enough (10.3%) gap between the top two runners so there was a clear victor with regular AND EC votes... that's not at all like the Bush/Gore mess where when the EC met after the votes had been counted and Gore was the clear winner but they gave the office to Bush anyways...

Any who care to snoop, there's more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election

The link is a good read, thanks. I agree on your opinion of the Civil War, lost family on both sides - however, if I remember my college classes correctly, the significant loss of marry-able men led in part to the women's suffrage movement later in the century.

I'll be honest - through our postings I think we agree on many things, but I can't agree on the EC position (in particular with regards to the 2000 election outcome), but that's cool. No reason to continue my discussion on the topic. I appreciate the dialogue on this and other topics. Thanks, PM.

 

[PineappleMama]

I'm not commenting on whether it was a good or bad thing, just pointing out the numbers. And if anyone wants each vote to count like SO many of the posters, commercials, etc claim then that system has to go. NO idea whether the consequences of it would be good or bad though... *shrug*

I've still got tons of research left to do before the elections... I'm a Libertarian, but I don't just automatically vote for the L candidate (where there is one) just because they CLAIM to be on the same page as me... gotta snoop... if they've served before what they did and did not vote for... if I agree with that... if haven't served well what have they been doing... do their actions indicate similar leanings... can't just trust what a person tells you... good way to end up with a drawer full of left handed screwdrivers, pipe stretchers and canooter valves.