Hundred Power

Today is Election Day in America. With early voting, the election
process is easy to watch. The media have been pointing out
the record registrations and a record early turn-out. The voter participation is in itself exciting. It is the face of democracy.

BUT . . . BUT . . . the pictures and stories are telling us that the mechanics of the process are simply bad at best, and at worst, look like America is still in a horse-and-buggy era. Why? Government just doesn’t have much respect for human beings. The officials in charge of funding and running elections seem stuck in a backwater. The news media aren’t pointing out the obvious.

Look at the lines. A friend in Florida waited 4.5 hours outside to vote early in October in Broward County. The Florida sun is high and hot. That’s just cruel to a human being. Was it the limited number of touch-screen machines? No, they’ve dumped them. He indicated 25 people were voting simultaneously with pencil and paper. If 25 can vote, why not 100? The bottleneck occurs when a voter presents identification and gets the ballot.

Look at another county in the Midwest that has a million residents. Early voting on paper ballots goes on for a month. BUT . . . the county
only has 3 places for early voting. The lines of people waiting outside
were very long. It is chilly, even if it’s not raining or snowing. Waiting for an hour or two outside is cruel treatment. Why? Too few people
were there to admit the voters. And, if they’d had more election officials, the problem was that the room itself was a bottleneck. Way too small. It’s just sad, and well, cruel.

Getting rid of the electronic voting machines has been a major goal of
this blogger for years. However slowly, government is waking up and slowly eliminating them. For an in-depth discussion, see Paper Ballot
Voting. Those machines, even if you trust them, are also a most serious bottleneck to you the voter.

Here’s the absolute worst story from Ohio. You may remember this one from a recent election. Citizens got in line around the time the polls closed. They waited about 8 hours before getting to vote. That meant they waited till around 2:00 in the morning before voting. What kind of democracy is that? Are our elected officials asleep at the wheel?

This analysis is not rocket science. You just have to step
back, note the problems everywhere, and ask, “Why am I treated
this way?” Nor does the solution require more than common sense.

Simple Solutions

• Utilize your local school gymnasiums.
• Double the number of election staff.
• Enable 100 citizens to vote simultaneously.
• Switch to pencil and paper ballots everywhere.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could vote inside without
having to face the weather? How about a “take a number” system
to enable you to leave a line and go to the rest room?
One just has to ask how senior citizens and handicapped people
dare go to most polling places. Then, there are the parents,
mostly mothers, with children. From what I can tell, the
government officials are out of touch and short on respect.

You can decide to demand some respect as a citizen and voter.
If you do, let your candidates and elected officials know.
Maybe this phrase will get their attention: “I’m mad as hell
and not going to take it any more.”

And, above all, be brave and vote.