Oh! The Voting! The Voting!
By Chad A. B. Wilson
Published November 6, 2006, 5:35 pm in Voting & Partisanship.
This time I have to shirk the Saddam Hussein ruling, Ortega's comeback in Nicaragua, and North Korea's admitted return to six-party talks to talk about something that comes every year: U.S. elections.
That's right. today is election day, November 7, the first Tuesday on or after November 2, or the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. Yeah, the reason for that convoluted determination of election day never made sense to me, and now that I know why it's that way, it's merely continued because of tradition. Anyway, I hope that millions of voters will venture to the polls on a bright and sunny November morning and vote for their favorite candidates. If you're like many people and you haven't yet decided to vote or even for whom to vote, read David Woods's column on the subject. I'm not saying you should vote libertarian (as he seems to imply), but his advice is good nonetheless. Go vote, and vote for the person who truly represents you.
But...
Get Out There and Do It
Some of you may feel disenfranchised this grand November morning. Some of you may feel as if the powers are trying to keep you from voting, or that the voting machines takes all control from you, or that the voting machine is incorrectly counting your vote, or that the rain just won't let you get to the poll, or that the mechanic is an evil republicrat who won't finish with your car until after the polls close, or that your boss is giving you extra work to keep your conservative bum from leaving the office. There are so many things that can go wrong, so many things beyond our control, so many reasons to stay away from the polls.
Take one of my good friends. He is one of the most politically minded people I know. He's one of those ultra-liberal conspiracy theorists who loves the titles of books such as The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power. I love talking to this guy, for we have had some, ahem, heated conversations about whether 9/11 was orchestrated by people other than al Qaeda, whether Amy Goodman is a communist or not, and whether Bill Clinton should have been impeached. He's also one of those people who brings up politics no matter his audience. He wants to talk about it, and he wants to convince everyone that he's right. Sometimes it's fun, yessirree.
But he hasn't voted in twenty years.
I'm serious here. The guy discusses politics with everyone and upbraids everyone for electing some X candidate, but he didn't even vote. That's crazy. If you value your freedom to discuss politics with everyone you know, then it is your duty to vote. Period. Don't feel that your vote doesn't count, because the fact is that it does. If you're a blue person and you live in a red state and you know your state is going to go red, it is your duty to go vote blue (or green or maroon, as may be the case). There are always local elections that may be up for grabs. But even if your candidates don't win, you can still be counted, for the popular vote does mean something, even in presidential elections. This time, though, you can't even argue that; this time, you're voting for local stuff, not for president, and that's a lot more difficult, but potentially a lot more meaningful.
Help! Help! I'm Being Repressed!
I don't know much about voting machines, I admit. Let me tell you upfront, however, that I love the idea of them. It is so much more efficient to automate everything, to keep people out of the mix, to allow a machine to register, tabulate, and report, than to have a human enter the picture at any point. These machines are potentially faster, more accurate, and, well, cooler than paper ballots. I'm all for them.
But then there is the reality.
Even though voting machines keep humans out of the viewable mix, they're still fraught with humanity. Someone has to design those things; someone has to work on them; someone has to calibrate them; someone has to tell them what to do with the information. The human fingerprint is all over the place, even if it appears that my vote is simply between me and the machine.
And the problem is that there is nothing I can do about it. There is no paper trail. I can't appeal anything. I have to trust the machine. But wait a minute. That's nothing new. Didn't I have to do all that with the previous method? Even if I punched holes in a piece of paper, once it's out of my hand, it can be altered, misplaced, eaten, or substituted. I have always had to trust to those diabolical election workers, didn't I? Yeah, I guess so. Just like I have to trust those people who made the voting machines.
They're not foolproof. See Adam Cohen's article in the NY Times yesterday for a litany of problems with voting machines. There are numerous other people out there who cry foul when it comes to these machines. Me, I think they're probably alright. Just like I have to trust those election officials, I have to trust that the people in our government who made the decisions to purchase these machines from these companies have to have my interest in mind. Yes, our elected officials are often greedy, duplicitous slime, but when it comes down to it, I feel like I have to have an idealisitic faith in them. What choice do I have?
But wait! What am I doing writing this column if I think our officials are doing everything right, or at least trying? If I really thought that all of our government officials were solely concerned with their own power, I would not live here anymore. Even if the result is a great country, I couldn't stand the idea that everyone was solely looking out for his or her own interest. I admit it plays a role, and it should, because the person concerned with remaining in power will be the person who does things that his or her constituency wants. Go your own way, and you'll lose, but do what the people want, and the people will love you.
So I can't believe that Rove or Bush or anyone else has orchestrated a government fraud to keep Republicans in power by sabotaging voting machines. Part of me says they're capable. There's enough money involved that this could actually happen. But if I believe that, I might as well stay home today. I might as well pine away or move to some remote island where I don't have to interact with this government anymore. I have to keep telling myself that our government is trying to do what they think is right. It's the same with the Iraq war. I didn't support invading Iraq, but I didn't think it was solely about oil. At some level, it was about protecting America (if not physically, then economically). At some level, we have to trust our government, even if it isn't our party in power.
If you can do that, then it means you can go vote with confidence. If you're so jaded that you think our government is only capable of thinking of itself, then you had better go out there and do something more about it. And voting for a different or minority candidate might be the first step for you.
Me, I already voted last week. God bless early voting. Now i just have to watch the coverage tonight to see what happens.
And I'm sure I will have plenty to talk about tomorrow.
Comments & Trackbacks
No Comments/Trackbacks for this post yet...
This post has 3 feedbacks awaiting moderation...
Leave a comment