I voted today. It was easy. After arriving at the polls when they opened at 7am, I waited in line for 15 minutes and voted. I was number 90 at Marquette Middle School Madison Wisconsin. The atmosphere was energetic, organized and positive. This is what Democracy should look like everywhere. Too bad it just doesn't.
Unfortunately, voter suppression is alive and well in many places- especially where folks are poor and especially where there are efforts from state and local governments to make voting difficult. This is typically done to maintain power for those already in positions of dominance.
The biggest canard by those suppressing the vote is that we should take drastic steps to prevent fraud. There simply are very few cases of voter fraud that have ever been prosecuted. There is very little incentive to risk severe penalties including imprisonment.
Counting votes is really a simple thing. It does not require complicated hardware running proprietary algorithms. It should be a non-profit proposition. If there's one thing we as a society ought to subsidize, it's a consistent fair vote.
This is where the parallel universe that defines Right Wing World becomes a real menace. The so-called free-marketers actually claim that proprietary voting machines are necessary. In practice we have unverifiable vote totals being tabulated by machines owned by folks who have a vested interest in the outcome.
We need transparency and consistency if we are to have a credible voting process. Perhaps what we really need is a healthy dose of humility. We used to teach the rest of the world the fundamentals of democracy. Yet voting in Canada, the UK and elsewhere is demonstrably better in terms of participation and credibility with the general population. We should take a lesson!
No comments:
Post a Comment