The Voting Troubles Have Begun

The voting troubles have begun. Even my local early voting is jammed. I voted last week, but I had no wait and no problems (that I know of). I had intended to vote absentee, but the County Clerk’s office was slow slow slow in sending out the information. (I signed up months ago, and the signature form arrived only after I voted early on the electronic machines.) At least part of the reason I voted early was to vote at the public library rather than at a church. I DON’T WANT TO VOTE AT A CHURCH. How can that be approved? Is it just Utah? At the public library, Dan Jones asked me who I voted for, so I told Mr. pollster man-boy.

News of the voting troubles seems to be mainstream. Is HBO mainstream? Diebold doesn’t like HBO’s new documentary, Hacking Democracy, to be shown in heavy rotation this coming weekend. If you need convincing that the situation is serious, take a quick look at the HBO interview with Bev Harris, founder of Black Box Voting.

Get serious and get out there. My local party has teams of poll watchers to send out on election day. There are national fair voting campaigns for any level of commitment except apathy.

• TEXT MESSAGE. The Ruckus Society (the people who brought us the War Profiteers playing cards) will text message you to go to your local polling place if you are needed. Watch the video first.

• VIDEO. Video the Vote is encouraging people to take their phones and cameras to polling places to document what they find. Register there as a videographer. For the moment, it’s still legal for you to videotape the exercise of democracy.

• From HOUSE PARTY to LAWSUIT. For the seriously committed, Black Box Voting has prepared an amazingly thorough Citizen’s Toolkit. Register there to become part of the National Hand Count Registry. They have also provided online chapters of the book Black Box Voting to help you as you discuss the issues.

• MANY CAMPAIGNS. A longish article on Alternet Monday links to many of the campaigns to document the vote and prevent fraud.

For now, the government is still what we the people say it can be. Get up on your feet, find out what is going on locally, and tell everyone else. If all we can say is, “All’s quiet,” we’ll all share our surprise together.

Update: Alternet started a center for Voting Resources.  Good stuff.

One Response to “The Voting Troubles Have Begun”

1. Jenni Says:
   November 2nd, 2006 at 8:33 am

   I wrote a bit about my early voting experience and trying to vote with a paper ballot here: http://oneutah.org/2006/10/31/voting-on-a-paper-ballot-
   dont-forget-to-wear-your-tinfoil-hat/

Leave a Reply