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Voting Is Awesome!

Well, I went to a polling place for the first time and did my civic duty (having been an Oregon voter previously I did the mail thing). The electronic machines sure are easy to use, but the lack of a paper trail makes me a little nervous. I’ll go out on a limb and say that the vast majority of poll workers are probably honest, so I guess there’s not too much need to fret, but tangible proof of my vote would be pretty handy. I was not the victim of any aggressive eye-rolling, so I wasn’t intimidated by the nice old people whose job it was to check registrations; it was a bit weird to be asked if I wanted the machine in English or Spanish (because trust me folks, nothing about my appearance screams anything but “honkey”), but other than that it was easy enough.

Democracy Kicks Ass.

  1. Timothy says:

    Now now, we all know Leibniz invented the calculus!

  2. Troutfur says:

    Anybody want to wager how many days of contesting and recounting there will be? Kick me when it’s over, I’ll be hibernating in my blissful stress-free academic-womb. (Damn you, Newton! You calculus-inventing bastard! And it IS a cookie, jerk!)

    I say fifteen days of recounts and lawyers swapping STDs. I hope that my vote looks the same after it is regurgitated and fondled by Bradbury’s thuglings.

  3. Andy D says:

    if any of you are interested

    http://www.intrade.com
    click politics then preidential election…

  4. Andy D says:

    Pansy ass!

  5. Anonymous says:

    RE: Democracy kicks ass

    It kicked my ass, it broke my heart and didn’t even offer me a ride home afterwards.

    Lousy democracy.

  6. Marla says:

    I think Sho’s point was that anyone who gave a shit if their vote was counted could definitely get that confirmation you wanted.

  7. Sho says:

    Well, I bet old people do it. Yeah! Go old people!

  8. Melissa says:

    Ok Sho. Like people do that. They can’t even cross the street at appropriate places in this city, let alone follow up on the screwed up system that leaves huge holes for their votes to fall through.

  9. Sho says:

    I think there’s a number you can call to verify that your mail-in vote has been counted in Oregon. Heard it on the radio this morning (on 94.7 KNRK, incidentally).

  10. Melissa says:

    I think that some kind of confirmation should be in place…like, proof that you mailed it in and then a check-in that it was recieved, sending a confirmation when it’s counted.

  11. Melissa says:

    Agreed.

  12. Sho says:

    Yeah, what Melissa talks about could be especially damaging to Democrats in Multnomah and Lane Counties, where most votes that could be destroyed would probably be votes for Kerry and against Measure 36.

    I dropped my vote off at the library, but I guess you never know about those librarians with their shifty eyes.

  13. Danimal says:

    If you are dumb enough to hand your ballot to a stranger on the street, your vote should not be counted.

  14. Melissa says:

    And my “s” key is sticking. The UO needs to share their dollars and send housing new keyboards. Dammit.

  15. Melissa says:

    Paper trail? Like mail-in ballots leave a paper trail? Here’s something scary for you, Tim.

    Campus groups are collecting ballots, even though Lane Count Elections makes them post a sign at the collection site stating that they are “not an offical LCE ballot drop site.” No one is expecting votes, so anywhere between handing your ballot to a stranger who says they’re “collecting” them and LCE, your ballot could dissapear into the incinerator and no one would be the wiser. They don’t have to register with LCE, and they don’t have to be held accountable.

    I prefer the California way of voting. They check your ID. They scan you in, scan you out, and your vote ticket is immediately before your eyes run through a scanner that counts and send the data to a main counter-thingamabob. I know that it got recorded and that no one impersonated me or destroyed my vote for ANYONE BUT KERRY.

    Lesson, kiddies. Don’t talk to strangers and don’t give them you ballots.

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