Provisional Ballots are the new Hanging Chads

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these are already an issue in ohio and florida. what says ilx?

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it's being reported as a bigger deal than it is. In Ohio, anyway. When you register to vote, you are supposed to vote in the precinct in which you live. If you go to the wrong place, you won't be able to check in when you vote. So make sure you know where you're supposed to vote & there should be no problem.

As much as I'd like to see maximum voter turnout for this election, I really think there needs to be an intelligence test. .. And by that I mean, you should be smart enough (and inclined) to register on your own and then go to vote where the board of elections tells you to.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)

my wife is registered at the same address as me, but has not received a sample ballot, voter information guide, absentee ballot application, or anything EVER. I'm surprised every time we go to vote that her name is actually on the roll. And this is in California where they tend not to fuck up stuff like this

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

well, i think that the problem is inconsistency. in florida, they are planning to count votes cast in the wrong place if it is inside of the same building as the correct place. how is this better than the wrong building? it seems silly.

and the provisional ballots DO let you check in to vote at the wrong place, that is kind of the point of their existence. they are given to voters who do not appear on the approved list of registered voters at that precinct. there are several reasons that people may not appear on this list at the correct polling place-newly registered voters' names may not appear, a name may be identical to one on the felon list and so stricken incorrectly from the list, etc. so it isn't as simple as if you are at the wrong place, you will know.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there a website that explains the process & its problems in more detail?

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

in florida, they are planning to count votes cast in the wrong place if it is inside of the same building as the correct place.

do they have muliple polling precincts in the same building? I don't understand.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd rather not go back to Mississippi pre-1965, thank you.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

how's that?

I don't want to exclude anyone or turn anyone away. But I think that anyone who is not inclined to vote without being pushed into it, probably won't make an informed choice anyway.* I would love to educate people so that they are self-motivated to vote.

(*however, in this election, I'm all for busloads of uninformed voters voting against Bush.)

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 8 October 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Gee, Dave, it's almost like you're implying a person would have to really study up and follow the issues to come to the conclusion that Bush is a horrible president.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd rather vote for candidates who will make our education system better than impose an intelligence standard for voting.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Ya been to smalltown America lately?

Anyway, I'm really speaking more about congress, judges, local representatives ... President gets plenty of coverage & most people probably have some kind of semi-informed opinion, right or wrong.

xpost

I'd rather vote for candidates who will make our education system better than impose an intelligence standard for voting.
I'd like to think that the former will result in the latter not being necessary.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

exactly!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

BTW - "Intelligence standard" - I'm not speaking about a test of any sort - only the premise that if someone doesn't see the value in voting, then let them not vote, rather than having voter-registration drives that encourage apathetic people to cast uninformed votes.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

if someone doesn't see the value in voting, they probably don't vote!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

and it's unfair to think that voter-registration drives are necessarily about "apathetic" people, though those people may certainly be uninformed (esp. about how to register to vote!). I also don't think, given the way things are in this country, that it's a sin to try to help uninformed or disadvantaged people. Perhaps if there was more initiative to that end, this country would be a better place.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

That's where door-to-door registration canvassing, Rock the Vote, etc.. come in. Those programs have value in that they put the spark in people's mind that they should think about voting - and may somewhat explain what the issues are .. But there are a lot of movements that kind of seem to shame people into voting - because "It's your right/privilege/duty.." But people should vote because they *want to change/keep leadership - not just because someone told them they're supposed to do it.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't really speak to that as I'm not really familiar or aware of movements that shame people into voting. There's been a fair amount of shaming on ILE, of which I have been party to, but that's different.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 8 October 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

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