ELECTION
ISSUES
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FAIR ELECTION RULES ARE UNKNOWN TO THE PUBLIC
In Abington, yes Abington, we have
campaigners being harassed
signs
of others that are taken down
literature stolen
intimidation
by some (even candidates have resorted to this)
and the
list goes on and on ...
The
actual rules are
only loosely followed regarding proper poll place practices.
This happens because:
they are known by few
they
are not posted or handed to voters
they are nowhere online to be found . I just got off the phone with
the Mongomery County Voter Services (9-12-12 ) and while
they can send me a volume entitled "Election Day Digest'
there is no link nor any shareable digital file on the proper
polling place procedures. That means the rules are know
only by those "running the show" - and as I said, not
always followed by those folks. So
while we don't have blantant, rampant disregard for fair
election practices, we don't have what we need to ensure proper
elections either. In a recent election, for instance, Ward
10-3 in Abington had a discrepancy of 35 voters between
the list and the machines. Some races are won or lost on
much smaller margins than 35 so this is very significant. One
Commissioner lost an election by 11 votes. So accurancy matters and checks and
balances matter.
A combination paper and machine ballot might be the best
practice - I have seen that in some communities and believe it
is a great idea. It must be done in a manner where the
votes cannot be changed on either the one ballot or the other.
So if you vote in a machine, and you receive two copies of your
vote, and one of those copies is deposited in a locked box, then
you would have a backup system as well as a receipt if you
wanted it.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OTHER ISSUES THAT SUPPRESS THE
MEANININGFUL VOTE OR EVEN THE ABILITY TO VOTE
VOTER ID REQUIREMENTS
The
issue I mentioned above with the discrepancy number of 35 at one
polling place did not have to do with whether the voters were
correct voters or not. 35 votes somewhere were incorrect
because the number from the machine differed from the backup
count. even if there had been voters who were not who they
said they were, that would not have provided this discrepancy.
The sense that requiring a voter ID from everyone would fix
voter fraud would be a false one. Are there people
that vote under a false name - perhaps the name of someone
deceased or someone moved out of the district....? Yes Is
this a huge number of people that are changing elections ?
Probably unlikely . And the problem is that
requiring an ID, especially before a really GOOD nationawide
system is in place to do that, will only hurt poor people
( who are unlikely to already have a passport or a driver's
license or standard ID and who are less likely to have
those documents WITH them ( as a matter of simple organization
and good habit) Putting a
system in place where everyone would be required to have some
form of ID would take time and require a great deal of
education and accommodation. Perhaps, for instance, if you
did not already have an ID, you could still vote if you leave a
fingerprint. But there have been objections to people who
are not criminals having to share their fingerprints (
leaving fingerprints or DNA as a matter of regular interraction
then leaves a door open for someone to misuse that material in a
way that might harm you )
In the 2012 elections no ID
ultimately was required because of the sheer number of voters
that might be disenfranchised.
WHY DO WE VOTE ON TUESDAY INSTEAD OF THE WEEKEND ?
In 1845 a law was made that elections would take place on
the TUESDAY that came after the 1st Monday in November .
The law was made because in 1845 most people travelled by
horse and buggy, they could not travel on the sabbath and
it took a day or longer to get to the county seat --- so Tuesday
was chosen .
Since more people are off on the
weekend and could more easily get to their polls, there are many
movement now to
either move voting to the weekend or to
make election day
a national holiday or to
allow early voting as is done in Massachussetts .
GERRYMANDERING
Where politicians
decide what their own districts will be based on putting people
likely to support them in their own districts and cariving
up the election map to a point of incomprehensibility - taking
away the fair rights for a proper "district" to election
it's own representatives in a proper manner .
DELEGATES AND SUPER- DELEGATES
No
chance of 1 person 1 vote when a delegate or
superdelegate carries more weight and is not required to vote as
he/she has been told to vote by the people who put their vote in
this delegate's hands. An absurd system that removes the vote
from the individual voter.
THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM
Yes there are other
parties - but they have become "irrelevant as the two major
parties have gained so much in numbers that no one else's voice
matters . Then by use of Gerrymandering and super-delegating
and other means the leaders of those 2 parties have really taken
the vote away from their own party members
Please feel free to
contact us
with your own
information on these topics and please be sure
to
contact us
about any information you believe to be
incorrect -
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