very telling, I think...

[acroyear]

2 things.  One cool, one troublesome...

Cool: Our polling place had 1 paperless touch-screen machine and 3 paper-ballot "stations".  Only 1 person used the touch-screen while I was there.  The rest, like me, were perfectly content to wait in line with our paper ballots and be sure that our vote will be counted right.

Troublesome: I've held no restraint on my contempt for current Republican party policy, but at the same time I prefer (as most do) not to vote for one because I'm voting against the other.  The current situation has made that inevitable, of course, but that wasn't really what bothered me.  What bothered me was the fact that the thought running through my head was "Do I really want to vote for her 'cause she's probably not going to win?"

not "Do I really want to vote for her 'cause she really doesn't have any experience?".

not "Do I really want to vote for her 'cause I really don't know how she stands on science education (though I can reasonably guess) or other issues?".

not even "Do I really want to vote for her 'cause not everything the other guy has done has sucked, just a few things?".

it was "Do I really want to vote for her 'cause I don't think she'll win?".

And that bothered me greatly.

A typical American thought to be sure, but I had kinda hoped that my education, my intellect, my reason would have kept me from thinking that most basic and primitive of "join the bandwagon" thoughts.  It's thinking like that, primitive and base "only the winning matters", which created the two parties and has kept us in a two party system since 1783.

Comments

[bronxelf-ag001.livejournal.com]

"Do I really want to vote for her 'cause I don't think she'll win?".

I had that same problem at the voting booth today. In the end, I voted my conscience, bucking the 2 party system where I could.

I'm tired of voting against things. Today I voted *for* things.

[rsteachout.livejournal.com]

If it's any comfort, there is a Republican candidate for state delegate in my district that is so odious I *will not* vote for him, leaving me a choice between two Democrats. I still have to find info on them so I can *try* to make an informed choice, but they didn't put much out there.

I hope I'm don't have to resort to flipping a coin in the poll. *sigh*

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

Our polling place did not offer paper ballots *at all.* I made my displeasure known to the poll workers, who told me that it was "okay, because these have the printout receipts." I have no confidence in this system at all, printouts or not, because you don't get to take anything away with you to prove that you voted (or how you voted).

Jeff and I have decided to use absentee/mail-in ballots for any future elections, just to make sure that our votes are actually counted properly.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

won't work.

they'll only go to the absentee ballots (much less the preliminary ones used for people who can't prove their eligability up front) IF the absentee ballots can change the election. if the total difference on the base count between the #1 and #2 is more than the absentee ballot count, then the absentees are simply left alone.

SO if the machines are being fraudulent and counting more votes for one side than they should, absentee ballots won't necessarilly be able to fix that problem.

Lovely.

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

So, what I'm really seeing is continued disenfranchisement for any given voter.

Furthermore, as I'm in California (which Dubya and his cronies have had it out for since day 1), I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that every single voting machine sent to this state had been tampered with somehow.

I am not ordinarily a conspiracy theorist, nor am I usually particularly paranoid. However, several years worth of *proven election tampering* has definitely put me squarely into the "why can't I have the damned paper ballot" camp.

Hell, we send the UN to watch *other* countries' elections to make sure they're honest ... I'd advocate them watching *ours.*

Re: Lovely.

[shalandara.livejournal.com]

I heard a rumor that Jimmy Carter has said that we do not meet the standards that he watches for when he is an observer for other countries.

I also heard a rumor that we have turned down offers of observers, the same way that we turned down help for after Katrina/Rita.

Hypocrites? I think so.

Re: Lovely - Quick Addition

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

I learned last night that, in California anyway, absentee ballots are opened and counted as soon as the polls close. That's the source for our preliminary reports here, and the information is available much sooner than that from the polling districts.