Tra-la election day
Nov. 2nd, 2004 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eruthrosSo everybody and their great-uncle is going to tell you to vote today. Somebody else has that covered, I'm sure.
And democracy is kicking ass this morning. It's unbelievable in so many ways -- how often are people this excited about their right to vote? How often do they think of it as this important, as a right and not a duty? How many new voters are right now standing in three hour lines or taking off work because today is important to them?
So I want to share a pair of AP pictures with you all. From Ohio, before the polls opened and from Roswell, Georgia. Look at that. Look at those lines. I'm nervous about the results and I'm worried and I perpetually feel like I didn't do enough, but ... look at those lines. There are lines in Michigan right now, right at this second, that are hours long, and people are getting rained on because they can't all fit into the building. There are lines in the Oklahoma panhandle, where it's snowing.
And in that spirit, I had an idea. Generally, 40% of all voters turn up after 6 pm. That is, they work a normal day and vote when they get home. Of course, the polling place is required to let everyone who is in line before the polls close vote, so even if lines are long those people will get to vote. But maybe we could make it easier for them. Maybe we could do what thousands of people did in San Francisco when people lined up to get married. Maybe we could go down to our polling places after 6 pm with our leftover Halloween candy and just start handing it out. Or take coffee. Or take our cell phones so people can call their families. Or just ask people if they need anything.
And democracy is kicking ass this morning. It's unbelievable in so many ways -- how often are people this excited about their right to vote? How often do they think of it as this important, as a right and not a duty? How many new voters are right now standing in three hour lines or taking off work because today is important to them?
So I want to share a pair of AP pictures with you all. From Ohio, before the polls opened and from Roswell, Georgia. Look at that. Look at those lines. I'm nervous about the results and I'm worried and I perpetually feel like I didn't do enough, but ... look at those lines. There are lines in Michigan right now, right at this second, that are hours long, and people are getting rained on because they can't all fit into the building. There are lines in the Oklahoma panhandle, where it's snowing.
And in that spirit, I had an idea. Generally, 40% of all voters turn up after 6 pm. That is, they work a normal day and vote when they get home. Of course, the polling place is required to let everyone who is in line before the polls close vote, so even if lines are long those people will get to vote. But maybe we could make it easier for them. Maybe we could do what thousands of people did in San Francisco when people lined up to get married. Maybe we could go down to our polling places after 6 pm with our leftover Halloween candy and just start handing it out. Or take coffee. Or take our cell phones so people can call their families. Or just ask people if they need anything.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-02 08:28 am (UTC)http://www.hackenblog.com
Ginger
ginger @ liheliso.com
no subject
Date: 2004-11-02 08:44 am (UTC)