Almost every election, reporters interview someone who didn’t vote and the reason why is often “my vote won’t count.”
EVERY election, the one just past being no exception, races ARE
decided by one vote; both this time on the federal level as well as
local. Yup, someone’s headed to Congress because one person voted. And
here in Kentucky, we had one race end in a tie, decided by a coin flip.
Enuff of history, and the miserable turnout, about 46%, let’s talk
about all the problems the US had; from not enough ballots, to jammed
machines, to one polling place that didn’t exist (it was foreclosed on
and padlocked before the election!) to not enough machines causing long
lines, to not enough election workers showing up, to machines with NO
paper trail in 3 states (and thus no way to check on fraud or human
errors!) to some political chicanery but no real evidence of fraud.
That said, why aren’t our elections better run???
After the”hanging chad” debacle of 2000, Washington promised us help. We
got some more money (not sufficient) and some new electronic machines
(not always easy to operate and again, some without a paper trail---such
as right here in Fayette County!!!) and as I write almost 2 weeks
later, some races still have not been called, and I don’t mean just
Florida.
BTW, we have a small race here next year for governor. And the nation has one in two years for the top job.
What can be done? A lot, and while Washington must help with more
$$$, and some UNIFORM voting rules for federal races, let’s talk about
the Commonwealth.
1---get rid of all machines that do not have a paper trail. The
Herald-Leader reports that means FayCo..and the city seems to have some
surplus funds which could solve this problem (plus grant money from
state and US sources.) Let’s do it! And if we can’t get simpler
machines with paper trails by next year, let’s go back to paper ballots,
read by machines, instead.
2---pass legislation that whenever the Secretary of State is a
candidate, he/she must turn over the duties of overseeing elections to
someone else. Let’s not have the disgrace of what happened in Georgia
happen here. We have been warned; let’s get ahead of the curve.
3—take a good hard look at early voting..which has some advantages,
but also some drawbacks. Do NOT go in for mail ballots as some states
have, which I suspect is too open to fraud. Do consider in person voting
over several days or even shifts or longer hours—and gear up for that.
4---consider AVR, as several states already have. Basically
Automatic Voting Registration is where if you go to any state office for
any matter, you are or can be registered to vote then and there.
5---plan NOW for a non- or bi-partisan commission of experts who
will draw the lines for all state/federal voting districts when the new
census figures come out, more and more states are going this way,
Kentucky needs to as well.
and, above all,
6---join the movement to end the Electoral College and elect the
President by popular vote. Then, one Kentucky vote will no longer mean
less than a vote in Tenn., or Ohio, or Indiana. ALL votes will be
equal!
I'm just sayin'...
