I have been listening to Air America radio (check it out!) a lot these days, and it seems that there is an issue that I get more polarized on everyday. Yesterday was the whole flip flop thing (see below), and today, I am worried about something else: the election. How will voting turn out? Will we see a repeat of the last election (and by repeat I mean taking the election decision to the supreme court, which is like taking the biggest redneck in the world to the sale at Barney’s… it just doesn’t belong there)? Will Bush finagle his way into office again? Well, there are a couple of things that are really upsetting me about this whole thing.
Namely, I am worried that people aren’t getting registered because of “loopholes” or just blatant “holding of registrations” until it is past the deadline. By loopholes, I am referring to hidden tasks that must be completed in order to vote. On my website, there is a link to register. It is a quick and easy form that you can fill out in under 5 minutes, and should be all that you need. Well, in Georgia, where I live, this is not all that you need, and I found this out first hand. When I moved into my house that I bought way back in June (don’t you like how I said way back…), I registered in order to change my address and allow ample time for my records to be changed, since I would now be living in a different district. Well, I sent off my information and everything, but come election time… I had to vote in my old precinct. Some of the people that I voted for weren’t my representatives, but at least I did get to vote. Who knows why I wasn’t registered, who knows why they didn’t update my info? It is things like this that keep many people from being allowed to vote, for if you aren’t registered, you cannot vote right?
Also, I referred to holding registrations. This is something that I have heard about, but didn’t really believe would be possible in this country. Since voting is a right of every citizen of this country (sans felons, sorry you guys), hell no, a DUTY, then it should be the easiest and most efficient thing, since it does have one of the biggest impacts on what happens to all of us, right? Well, I can see how an administration would want to prevent people from registering, that is more votes that may not come your way, especially if they are the disenfranchised minority groups that wouldn’t vote for you anyways. I am sure that the mentality is, “let’s keep those poor people from voting, cause I know that they are pissed off that I am hurting most of their benefits, and preventing them from getting anywhere in life”, or something like that. So, even though I am shocked and appalled that such a thing COULD happen, I am not at all surprised.
One final note. How come they will not let the UN come in and monitor the election. REMEMBER 2000???? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING? Obviously Gore lost because of sneaky tactics used by the Bush camp, and it is obvious that such a thing could happen again, given that Florida is in the same state (literally and figuratively) that it was 4 years ago!!! I believe wholeheartedly that the reason that they will not allow this monitoring (which by the way, would be the most fair and HONEST way to do things) they are getting what they want. Leverage. Leverage to push the election results one way or another. I just hope that the supreme court doesn’t get involved this time, and we actually rely on what matters most in an election…. the people’s votes! (after all this is a democracy, right?? Oh wait… never mind.)
I don’t know about other states, but if you are in Georgia, you can check to see if you are registered by going to this link…
Click Here
Thanks Josh!