If you haven't already heard and reported -- there is a A Fight for Democracy Rally: this Saturday December 4th, 1:00 at the State House in Columbus
http://www.caseohio.info/It is important to note that in a free democracy that every person who wants to vote, should be given the chance to vote if he/she has taken the proper procedures to register.
I find it odd that even though there were so many accounts of irregularities in this Presidental election, not only in Ohio -- but in many of the "swing states"
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/12/01/voting_errors_tallied_nationwide/ that this is just shrugged off as not a big deal in the majority of the reports that have been given.
I live in a "privileged" county in Ohio (a somewhat "affluent"/mostly Caucasian, mostly republican area (Bush rallied here, in West Chester, Ohio with over 50,000 people attending), the school district has been rated "excellent" 3 years in a row... etc.) and considering the reports of how difficult it was for a person to simply cast a vote in many parts of Ohio this tends to make me feel that something is not equitable about our democratic process. And that IS what is at stake here. Our Democracy.
My concern is for a voting system that is fair and equitable and reliable.
Ohio had lots of problems, there is no doubt. A majority of these problems came from an unequal dispersment of Voting Machines. I've heard a lot of excuses for this, but no solutions, except pushing for an easier "absentee ballot" next time.
Seems to me, in this day and age, that an equal amount of voting machines could be dispersed to all voting locations -- or am I missing something? I've looked on the Internet for a Voting Location Map of some sort,
to see
precinct voting place lay-out,
amount of machines allocated per precinct -vs. per polling place,
amount of people allocated per polling place,
amount of people who showed up in each polling place, etc.,
but have yet to find anything, though I'm sure with the proper amount of digging that information is out there. I feel that in order to STOP any problems from occurring again next time, that everyone, republicans and democrats alike, need to look at how voting places are determined, and arrange for equality in dispersing the machines. Simply allowing more people to vote absentee will not solve the problem, since there aren't any checks or balances that take place once the ballot is sent (often with Political Party Markings) -- nor will ignoring the fact that throughout the state, as well as the nation, there were significant anomalies with the voting process that just *can't* be brushed away as insignificant.
In terms of waiting -- in my comfortable "white collar" job, I personally could have waited an hour or more (my boss wouldn't have liked it, but I would have done it if necessary and just worked later that night) -- others, needing to pick up children at school, or go to jobs that aren't so forgiving, etc., didn't have this luxury. And, to me, this is completely UNdemocratic, and I am shocked that more reports in the media don't consider this. One shouldn't have to make a decision whether or not to stay in line to cast a vote. I believe there is a law about that somewhere, if I'm not mistaken.
It's far more important to ensure that our voting system is fair and equitable and reliable than to simply think the matter is over and done with until the next election because things went "smooth." American citizens need to be assured that the process of voting is not something to be questioned, but to be cherished as our right in this democracy.
Thank you for taking time to read this.
Kind Regards.
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