When I voted by "walk in absentee ballot" last week I was very careful. It was a large ballot and I filled in ovals with a number 2 pencil. I had checked that the pencil said #2. I had been told not to seal the rather large ballot when I was done. I turned it in to a clerk and he said that I could go. I said that I would like to see it being sealed! Why was I so careful? Why did I seem suspicious? Have we gotten to the point where we don't trust the process of voting?
In 2000 I also voted absentee, but then I really was absent. I was living in Denmark for 3 years. Watching that election from a distance was interesting. The length of time between election day and the Supreme Court decision seemed to go on forever. I was asked many questions by people who weren't citizens of the USA and those of us who were USA citizens were equally puzzled. One man suggested that we do the vote the way they do it in his country, India. They hand count the votes! As time has gone on, I continue to wonder why our system seems to be full of problems. Precincts are small, why do we have to have those dreadful touch screen things? One of the reasons I walked into our board of elections to vote, was that I knew there would be a record of my vote.
Can we trust our vote? In the past I thought that there were suppose to be voting judges from each party at each precinct. Is that still true? In my county the Democratic party will have over 20 lawyers in it's county office on election day and has widely distributed the telephone number. I'm glad they are doing that. Sadly, we cannot trust the voting system as it stands. We must be alert!
If anyone notices anything "strange" - a person turned away for difficult to understand reasons or because the name on the voters list doesn't have the middle initial and the driver's license does, a touch screen which seems to act up etc. - do something! There should be a "judge" of some kind there, ask that person. Call your local party office and explain the problem. No one should feel when they leave the poll that they should have questioned something. Do it!
Those of us who have become the Obama grass roots family need to continue our work. We should not have to be suspicious of our election process. When Barack Obama wins on Tuesday, let's vow to help him in any way possible. Let us also vow to clean up the election process as well. We can make it into a process that is simple and valid. Something has happened to this country and we must help fix it starting with the credibility of the vote.
Yes We Can!
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