[24504] in APO-L
[APO-L] Elections, voting, etc...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sharon Zohar)
Wed Oct 27 23:04:11 2004
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 23:03:53 -0400
Reply-To: zonuts@alum.rpi.edu
From: Sharon Zohar <zonuts@cox.net>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
>>The disheartening thing about "get out the vote" and voter registration drives is that they focus on getting people to vote without making sure they know what they're voting for. One of the polling companies recently reported that 25% of likely voters they surveyed picked the wrong candidate when asked where candidates stand on issues like taxes and the environment.
Democracy doesn't work with an uninformed electorate. If it's possible, I know I'd like to see such registration drives include unbiased information (which, admittedly, is fairly tricky...a lot of sites claim to be nonpartisan but spend nearly all of their space attacking a certain candidate) on where the voters can go to find out where the
candidates stand, so they can go to the booth knowing which candidate fits their values and philosophies better.
Think of it this way...the Republicans and Democrats both would have been forced to field better candidates, and 3rd party alternatives would be more viable, if the electorate were more informed.<<
I won't argue the point. One of the reasons I chose the approach that I chose is that Election Protection is not trying to get non-voters to vote, we're trying to protect the rights of those voters who do want to vote and who might not otherwise get the chance due to avoidable irregularities.
And to pre-empt the expected rejoinder, I highly encourage people who want to volunteer to make sure that ineligible voters don't vote as well. That, too, if done politely and respectfully, with knowledge of the laws, will be a service.
Regardless of one's political persuasion, I think we can all agree that the U.S. election process is very messed up. This election is already contentious, and is just getting worse. It is up to concerned citizens to try to keep the process as clean and ethical as possible, putting aside partisanship if possible.
If you're of age, and you're an American citizen, get informed and vote wisely, and if you have the time and inclination, please volunteer in some way, as best you can to help, where help is needed to make this election just a little bit less messy. If that's not a service to this country, I'm not sure what is. :)
I'm going to return to the rock under which I live to finish watching the game and to pack for my flight to Tucson.
YiLFS,
Sharon Zohar
Alum of EZ '87
Semi-retired staff
"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." -- Albert Camus
