Activist judges

 Politics  No Responses »
Nov 022004
 

When I heard this morning that the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had overturned rulings yesterday from two different U.S. District judges, the first thing I wondered was who appointed the judges to overturn the ruling. I have my answer and, unfortunately, it falls along party lines. The two judges who overturned the rulings were appointed by Republican presidents.

Aren’t judges supposed to be impartial? While I’m not familiar with the Ohio law, it seems to me that the polling officials should be the ones to decide whether or not to challenge a voter’s eligbility, not some partisan observer, whether they’re Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green or whatever. There shouldn’t be any partisan people screwing with the voters in the polling place. Period. Anything else just seems wrong to me. WTF?

 Posted by on November 2, 2004 at 11:30 pm

Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote, vote, vote

 Politics  No Responses »
Nov 022004
 

I’ll qualify the subject line of this post adding the Trey Parker/Matt Stone rule. If somehow you’re too brain dead to have actually researched the candidates, stay the fuck home.

I’ll be interested to see how the Technorati: Votes page turns out by the end of the day. I oppose Bush and, tentatively, I support Kerry even though I ultimately decided to vote Libertarian this year. I had to defend my self this morning to a co-worker. I’m once again reasoning the same way I did in 2000. I really am not happy with either candidate in the presidential election. While I’m also not thrilled with Michael Badnarik, it’s certain that he won’t win and keeping my vote from Kerry won’t affect the electoral votes for Texas. Those votes are going to Bush. My Libertarian vote is a protest to both the two-party-system and the electoral college. The Libertarians generally have a reputation for being a little too out there for most people and I totally agree. However, I think some of the more moderate viewpoints are legitimate. What I really need is a party that mixes the Libertarians and Democrats.

I voted Libertarian in a few of the local races, but generally went for the Democrats. I withheld my vote from the elections with only one choice. Can anyone explain to me what the point is of including a race with a single choice on the ballot? This always annoys the crap out of me. Do they do this in other states?

My polling place was slightly more crowded than usual, but not too bad. I can’t possibly fathom how you could be, but If you’re registered, are on the fence and need a nudge one way or the other, read this.

Oh yeah and this is just marvelous. I’m hoping there’s some Chicken Little disease going on over there, but I guess you can’t be too safe. Is anyone in charge of the machines actually going to listen to them?

 Posted by on November 2, 2004 at 4:23 pm

Rawking the vote

 Uncategorized  Comments Off on Rawking the vote
Nov 022004
 

I hit the polling place bright and early this morning with the wife and kids. There weren’t any suspicious characters harassing anyone, just a couple of Democrats with signs. It was a little more crowded than in 2000, but I didn’t have to wait very long. The place was well staffed. There was someone to greet me and go through how to use the eSlate electronic voting machine if I wanted help. We’ve been using this machine for a few elections now, so seasoned voters should be familiar with them. Due to problems during early voting, the poll clerk emphasized checking your summary screen at the end and making sure not to miss the Cap Metro referendum at the end, especially if you vote a straight ticket. There was also a sign with this reminder at the sign-in table.

There’s one thing I’ve always wondered. Why the hell do we include races on the ballot where there is only one choice? What’s the point? There isn’t any option for a write-in, so you can’t very well pick someone else. Are we the only state that does this?

Check out the Travis County election page before you vote. Make sure you have contact information if you have a problem. Nationwide, you can call 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA for spanish speakers. In Texas, the Texas Secretary of State number is 1-800-252-8683. The polls close at 7pm. If you’re there before 7, you must be allowed to vote. Don’t let them close things down on you. Call the numbers that I mentioned.

 Posted by on November 2, 2004 at 9:55 am