There was a line in the morning at my polling place in '04 so I imagine there will be one this year. I'm going to go before work and then go to the New System Bakery for a treat to (I hope!) celebrate the New System!
Well, we may not have parted on the best of terms. I realize certain words were exchanged. Also, certain... bullets. But that's air through the engine. It's past. We're business people.
Mal ,'Serenity'
Natter 61*
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
lisah - Oct 30, 2008 7:28:33 am PDT #7423 of 10001
Punishingly Intricate
Trudy Booth - Oct 30, 2008 7:33:19 am PDT #7424 of 10001
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart
It will be a big deal if NYC ever switches off the KaChunk machines - according to my now ex-govt working friends - the voting machines are controlled at least somewhat by organized crime and it's a racket.
They'll probably just get the contracts for whatever the new machines are too. Changes in windows, restaurants, vending machines, trash collection, strip bars, road construction, etc. never seem to slow them down much.
Sue - Oct 30, 2008 7:35:53 am PDT #7425 of 10001
hip deep in pie
I have a civics question: Why do Americans have to register to vote? Why can't the gov't say, use tax rolls to create a base list of people eligible to vote? Why is the onus on the voter to prove eligibility? Wouldn't that take the politics out of voter registration?
Sparky1 - Oct 30, 2008 7:39:41 am PDT #7426 of 10001
Librarian Warlord
Why can't the gov't say, use tax rolls to create a base list of people eligible to vote?
The baseline answer to this is that the federal gov't doesn't organize the elections, the states do. So we register by proving residence (and age) in the state in which we're living, not by proving we pay taxes, own land, etc.
megan walker - Oct 30, 2008 7:39:42 am PDT #7427 of 10001
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Not everyone has to file? Some people that pay taxes can't vote?
Also, we have no national identity card, which would probably solve a number problems like this. Still don't get that.
tommyrot - Oct 30, 2008 7:41:05 am PDT #7428 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
What did they do in the bad old days, when only white male landowners could vote?
sarameg - Oct 30, 2008 7:42:27 am PDT #7429 of 10001
Probably had to show your deed/claim thing.
Hil R. - Oct 30, 2008 7:43:32 am PDT #7430 of 10001
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
Yeah, the years I was 18 and 19, I was eligible to vote, but didn't make any money that I paid taxes on. Plus, with college students, some vote in the state where the college is, and some vote in the state where their parents live, and either one is legal. As long as you only vote in one or the other, not both, of course.
Has everyone seen this? These kids are awesome. [link]
sarameg - Oct 30, 2008 7:47:23 am PDT #7431 of 10001
When I registered to vote in NC, my drivers license was from NM, my car was registered in NC and my mailing address was a private post office box not run by the USPS that I lost every summer. It occurs to me that this might so not work in some states these days...
Sue - Oct 30, 2008 7:47:36 am PDT #7432 of 10001
hip deep in pie
The baseline answer to this is that the federal gov't doesn't organize the elections, the states do.
Ah, it's a state-federal thing.
The taxes thing was just an example. Election rolls are done by the Gov't in Canada, and they do ask to use you personal information from your tax return to populate elections rolls, but they also do go door to door adding people to the list. (though not as often as they used to.) It's added expense for the gov't, and certainly not foolproof (when I was in university, they enumerated everyone in residence, even Americans), but it mostly takes partisanship out of the equation.