Florida Voting Democraticly
There are a bunch of political science ideas floating around these days.
One of the simpler ideas would be to make it easier, quicker, and more convenient to vote. Instead, it is more difficult, takes longer in some ways, and may not be as convenient as it might be. Sadly this seems to be something partisan about the way "the vote" is interpreted.
It is clear that the way rules are interpreted regarding voting do not apply evenly. Some places give an hour off with pay to vote during working hours, others do not. I've had to work in places where that was interpreted that the employee has an hour off and it did not matter whether they voted or not.
All lines are not created equally and it would be nice if the people in charge of running elections tried to make the process a lot easier. Some polling places in Florida did not have enough parking for the lines they experienced and parking tickets were issued in the area. There is something very off putting about this use of people in charge of writing tickets. This is not like being a scofflaw at a baseball game or art festival.
When all the votes are counted, this round of elections are going to be so close that once again the losing side will feel they have been shafted, with or without the Supreme Court voting 5-4.
If both sides can't agree that it is in every ones best interest that as many people as possible are able to vote, we will continue to have a severely divided country that is unable to address the problems we all face.
One of the simpler ideas would be to make it easier, quicker, and more convenient to vote. Instead, it is more difficult, takes longer in some ways, and may not be as convenient as it might be. Sadly this seems to be something partisan about the way "the vote" is interpreted.
It is clear that the way rules are interpreted regarding voting do not apply evenly. Some places give an hour off with pay to vote during working hours, others do not. I've had to work in places where that was interpreted that the employee has an hour off and it did not matter whether they voted or not.
All lines are not created equally and it would be nice if the people in charge of running elections tried to make the process a lot easier. Some polling places in Florida did not have enough parking for the lines they experienced and parking tickets were issued in the area. There is something very off putting about this use of people in charge of writing tickets. This is not like being a scofflaw at a baseball game or art festival.
When all the votes are counted, this round of elections are going to be so close that once again the losing side will feel they have been shafted, with or without the Supreme Court voting 5-4.
If both sides can't agree that it is in every ones best interest that as many people as possible are able to vote, we will continue to have a severely divided country that is unable to address the problems we all face.
I agree with your recent points on the difficulty of voting in urban areas. I don't understand why voting isn't done on Saturday instead of Tuesday. Is this left over from the early days of our founding? Is this for religious reasons?
ReplyDeleteHad something to do with religion and market days. Oregon just votes by mail. In Florida, Broward County just found some more absentee ballots. Our governor sold the legislature on messing with an early voting process that has been popular by limiting days and the location of polling places as a cost cutting measure. Then on election day there were problems with distribution of voting stations, scanners, and a turnout that matched previous presidential turnouts in percentage but in numbers were greater and the ballot was horrendous. I'd say the issue was one of logistics. They should have known better after the first day of early voting that there would be problems, but nothing was done to alliviate the the electile dysfunction in Florida. Credit Phil Latzman, WLRN for the colorful language.
Delete