re-evaluating the election

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celestemekent

Banned
#1
Sep 7, 2012
532
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0
#1
Given the fact the many people around the country waited in line for up to 7 hours. That even voting early did not mean there were no long lines. It seems there is no uniform standards for voting, in fact the voting machines themselves do not have any federal standards. Written another way there are really 50 different standards and those are typically ignored at the convenience of majority parties in the various states.

Given the desire for "states rights" the demand for this sort of chaos in our election means that some states can retain their biased or slanted control of the vote. Partisan efforts in places like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania were maybe the most obvious ones but people took multiple hours even in places like NYC also. Given that for the average person spending 7 hours in a line to vote means they lose a day worth of income and the lower the income the greater the chance that they will not be willing to give that income up deferring their vote instead of deferring their income.

Since voting is really the "prime right", without being able to vote, minorities will never get their representation, never get the ability to seek redress for perceived wrongs.

Does anyone here suggest that the process we have for voting is an ideal case? I certainly don't.

Does anyone here have suggestions as to how it is possible to avoid such a situation again? Or do you see any need to solve it?
 
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Batman007

Guest
#2
#2
Interesting.

Honestly I haven't read up on this issue much, but one thing I've always found ridiculous about voting is why it's on a tuesday, rather than like a saturday, for example, when most people are off work and school. Or, and this just popped into my head and there may very well be good reason why it's not this way, but why not more than one voting day? I'm not saying a whole week but even two days of open polls would ensure way more people would vote, and would cut the lines down considerably.
 
Nautilus

Nautilus

Senior Member
#3
Jun 29, 2012
6,488
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#3
early voting was going on for a last two weeks beforehand....plenty of time if you care
 
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celestemekent

Banned
#4
Sep 7, 2012
532
0
0
#4
You might think that was true but some states even the early voting had long lines (hours of waiting). It seems that in places like Ohio there were only one polling place for a whole county. Before Oregon went to mail in ballots, we used to have 10 or more polling places in my county and never more than a few minutes wait. Now we have about a month with our ballots before they need to be mailed back in or if we want we can bring them to collection points and hand them in. We do not go to polling places at all, just the privacy of our homes.

I have heard some people talking about using the internet to vote but that seems to have some security problems. Not everyone has internet either.
 
Nautilus

Nautilus

Senior Member
#5
Jun 29, 2012
6,488
53
48
#5
not everyone votes either. The people that want to vote make the effort. with early voting and everything else, Im just saying not as many people are being skipped as you seem to think
 
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1still_waters

Guest
#6
#6
There are long lines because uninformed voters arrive to the polls in masses. They have no clue what is on the ballot, and who they are voting for. So they spend too much time in their voting booth trying to figure it out.

Want to shorten the voting wait time? Give every voter a sample ballot a month before the election. Have them study it. Have them fill it out before voting day. Have them bring it to the polls. Have them simply copy their sample ballot decisions onto their real ballot.

These ballots have tons of state propositions. They have obscure local offices. All things that can make voting take a LONG TIME for the unprepared voter.

And as far as these state laws that supposedly stop minorities from voting.

Keep in mind, Obama won Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

On a side note, if people aren't willing to fill out a sample pre-election ballot, and educate themselves, then maybe they shouldn't be voting. In effect they're just wasting our time at the polls.
 
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celestemekent

Banned
#7
Sep 7, 2012
532
0
0
#7
OK, still waters: how many states DONT print up pamphlets to explain the ballot? That is old news they all do it. That is not the problem. When a state has a 10 page ballot, AND a single polling place per county it does tend to generate the long lines. I suppose that the total lack of uniform regulations has any effect on the process? Even if we just regulate the federal elections force the 50 states to use federal guidelines and conform to the same standards, on processes and on machines.

There was a commission agreed to during the Bush administration but it was never given the authority or the money needed to spread the standards, and eventually it was abandoned by the members themselves. It still exists in law and could be revived.
 
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nw2u

Guest
#8
#8
I suppose if the day was made into a national holiday in which no business was open, there would be more time to vote. I think it is also the folks who are voting often.
 
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1still_waters

Guest
#9
#9
celestemekent said:
OK, still waters: how many states DONT print up pamphlets to explain the ballot? That is old news they all do it. That is not the problem. When a state has a 10 page ballot, AND a single polling place per county it does tend to generate the long lines. I suppose that the total lack of uniform regulations has any effect on the process? Even if we just regulate the federal elections force the 50 states to use federal guidelines and conform to the same standards, on processes and on machines.

There was a commission agreed to during the Bush administration but it was never given the authority or the money needed to spread the standards, and eventually it was abandoned by the members themselves. It still exists in law and could be revived.
Click to expand...
They weren't given the money to make democracy more efficient because the money was spent on the "free stuff" for all the Obama voters.

Maybe we need two ballots. One for Obama voters that has one check box. "I want my free stuff." Then one for the educated voters.

The I want my free stuff crowd can show up, check their box, leave and wah lah. Problem solved.
 
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1still_waters

Guest
#10
#10
celestemekent said:
I suppose that the total lack of uniform regulations has any effect on the process? Even if we just regulate the federal elections force the 50 states to use federal guidelines and conform to the same standards, on processes and on machines.
Click to expand...
If you think elections regulated at the local level are inefficient, wait until it's controlled by the federal government! They're the poster children for rising to your highest level of incompetence.

For liberals, all problems are solved by giving the federal government control.
 
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OFM

Guest
#11
#11
1still_waters said:
They weren't given the money to make democracy more efficient because the money was spent on the "free stuff" for all the Obama voters.

Maybe we need two ballots. One for Obama voters that has one check box. "I want my free stuff." Then one for the educated voters.

The I want my free stuff crowd can show up, check their box, leave and wah lah. Problem solved.
Click to expand...
what free stuff the obama administation gave away no free stuff that i know of....
 
resurrection33

resurrection33

Banned
#12
Dec 19, 2009
27,513
128
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#12
Lucky for me, I didn't have to wait at all to vote. There was a guy ahead of me, but when they gave me my ballot, there were at least a half dozen voting machines, and only one of them was being used.

Making people wait for seven hours to vote, or even one hour, is inexusable, isn't it?
 
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