Citizen Heroes

[quietfan 233]

FIRST:

Whether they voted Republican or Democrat, I'm amazed and impressed by the stories of people standing in line for 8, 10, or 12 hours to exercise their right/duty to vote. It also seems that we had a record turn-out across the nation and many new/first-time voters.

To all of you who made such a sacrifice in the name of democracy, I salute you!

*************************

Secondly--

In many cases it sounds like the lines were long because there were too few voting machines available for the turnout. In some areas, judges issued temporary injunctions allowing persons to cast paper ballots rather than wait in line so long for machines (although these will no doubt be contested by someone). There were also a few reports (but thankfully not as many as some feared) of touch-screen machines going down and losing votes with no paper record or back-up.

Without any partisanship as to who may or may not have been affected by such problems, the new Congress and Adminstration have to correct these problems. [Even if it requires a constitutional amendment to permit greater federal input into state election procedures.]

I fear that we have let our desire to hear instant (and therefore electronic) results on Tuesday night outweigh our need to have universal suffrage and clear, accurate results. I say forget the machines and go back to unambiguous paper ballots. Even if it takes a week or two to count them, that's far better than losing votes, disenfranchising people through logistical problems, or having the results disputed for days/weeks in various court cases. I don't mind waiting a few more weeks for democracy to work.

[Tigermike 3,057]

FIRST:

Whether they voted Republican or Democrat, I'm amazed and impressed by the stories of people standing in line for 8, 10, or 12 hours to exercise their right/duty to vote.  It also seems that we had a record turn-out across the nation and many new/first-time voters.

To all of you who made such a sacrifice in the name of democracy, I salute you!

117849[/snapback]

Agree 100%

[CCTAU 3,350]

Yes. Let's go back to the eighties. These new-fangle computer thingys are killing us.....

I think you will find that there have been less instances of losing votes with the new machines than in the past with paper. You are now falling into the trap set by the Dems. I was in front of a black lady voting here in north Georgia and she was amazed that things weren't just fallling apart. I had to remind her that not all of what the DNC tells her is true.

I think its more mportant for us to have a 2-day voting period rather than early voting. The people like to get out in masses and vote. One day is simply not enough. And within that 2-day period, one day should be Saturday. Why we vote on a week day is beyond me.

I think we will find in the future that the process will get even better. BTW 70% of all Ohioans voted on the hanging chad ballots!

[TrueBlue72 0]

I agree, Quietfan, it IS time to fix the system. I believe we need:

1. A uniform set of rules for voting, including eligibility, mechanism and monitoring.

2. A National Voter Registry database, based on the voters' social security number or some other unique number. This, coupled with a PIN number would allow a voter to exercise his/her right to vote with fewer questions than the multitude of systems we have today.

3. An online voting system that would allow voting in their local elections from wherever a person might be on election day. This would minimize/eliminate the problems we now have with absentee ballots, provisional ballots and such. This could also identify any attempts to "double vote" that can be a significant problem with the disjointed systems we now have.

4. The elmination of our archaic Electoral College, making the election truly the will of the people.

I realize that it would take a constitutional amendment to make this possible, but the people of the United States deserve the best system. The traditionalists will complain bitterly about the cost, but the fact is that it will significantly reduce the cost of future elections.