Washblog

...but it still disturbs me when I see a call to action on Washblog that is exactly the same as a call to action on Soundpolitics.

I'm with Obama

by willisreed on Mon Jun 05, 2006 at 04:28:27 PM PST

---

Vote by mail is a bad idea in general but is a particulary bad idea for this county at this time.  Apparently there is a 20% shortage of election division staff.  I don't know anything first hand about Dean Logan but I have noticed a severe lack of confidence in him by  many people.  The Council has been stating that two groups, the Election Center and the Citizen's Election Oversight Committee (CEOC), have advised them to make the change to all mail balloting. It was pointed out yesterday that the Election Center did NOT advise them to make a change to vote by mail but DID recommend that they study financial and operational feasibility of it.  I understand from a credible CEOC member that 6 out of 13 members of the CEOC did NOT advocate going to all vote by mail. That 17 people testified at the hearing yesterday, all of them against going to forced mail voting, is remarkable.  I think the council is showing some wisdom to reconsider their proposal.

Election systems need to be simple so pretty much everyone can understand them.  It is really unfair to voters and election observers when computers are used in elections.  Even if the software was open to scrutiny, and it is not, it would take someone who could understand software programming to verify that it is working correctly.  In a similar way, voting by mail is unfair to the voter and election observer.  There is really no way to know for sure that the voter's ballot was secret. And there is no way to know for sure that people  are clear on how they should protect their ballot.  If people are indifferent about a particular election, I sincerely believe they may easily  give their ballot over to people or sell their ballot.  These problems are minimized if not eliminated at the polls. Also a mail ballot goes through a gauntlet in order to get counted.  There are a number of steps where things could go wrong.  Also, the election observer would just get to see a very small aspect of the mail ballot processing in the best of circumstances.  

We have had a sweep of electronic voting machines that we have been discovered to be a menace to our elections.  Everybody voting by mail is also a menace to our elections but the bad effects are more subtle and the errors and fraud will be hidden.

In order to secure our democracy, we all need to think very carefully and seriously about the sytems we use for our elections.  This is really not a parisan issue. In addition, we are all in much the same boat because we all have to live with decisions that our elected officials make.  I don't think anyone who votes wants to learn that no one can know for sure who was elected due to a flawed system.

by panmittens on Tue Jun 06, 2006 at 08:09:49 PM PST

---

Here's a comment from one of your anti-mail-voting comrades:

Right ON!!

But in 2 weeks, they will be able to mobilize a big liberal turnout for the next meeting.

Illegals, Homosexuals, Mailbox Residents, Homeless, Teachers, etc. will show up to say their rights will be enhanced by forced mail balloting.

Posted by Norm Gilbertson at June 5, 2006 07:12 PM

I'm just sayin....

I'm with Obama

by willisreed on Tue Jun 06, 2006 at 12:37:19 AM PST

---

The public has already voted, all around the state. People PREFER all-mail voting. Only the wackos on the left and the right are making a big deal out of this, grabbing at straws for any rationale that they can come up with that SOMEONE might accept.

What the hell do we have a County Council for, if not to decide on stuff like this? Quit wasting our time, Jason.

If perception is reality, then the world must be flat and the sun must revolve around it.

by ivan on Tue Jun 06, 2006 at 06:18:40 AM PST

---