Vote 2018

[lydamorehouse]

The sticker on my coffee cup lid this morning asked me: "Do you know who you're voting for?" On Facebook, I answered this way: "My answer: so many--my trans and queer friends and family, the immigrant and refugee students and their families that are my son's colleagues at school and who still want to come to this country to make it a better place, for women and men who have been abused and should be believed, for black lives that matter, the environment, democracy, and... oh, you meant on the ballot?"

Because, yeah, I've known who is on the ballot for some time and (thanks to naomikritzer), I've had a cheat sheet in my wallet for months.

The coffeeshop I got this cup at, Claddaugh, has a sign out that says, "'I Voted' sticker = free cup of coffee!" Mary, the owner, told me that someone harassed her barista and said, "You can't do that; it's illegal." Of course she can. Mary isn't telling anyone WHO to vote for and rewarding only the answers she likes. In fact, if someone looks at "I will reward you if you vote" and sees something partisan, that tells me A LOT about which side of the divide THEY are standing on. It's kind of amazing that one of the things we are fighting for right now in this election is the idea--which should be a basic and AMERICAN value--is the right for every citizen to vote. 

This morning at my polling place, I got a little teary-eyed. There were people occupying any space they possibly could to vote. Rather than wait to vote with a privacy screen, people were sitting on the floor and filling out ballots. This is _mid-term_, people. The last time I saw this many people so anxious to vote was in a presidential election which I don't want to name for fear of jinxing it (but which had the slogan HOPE). I was telling my friend in Wales that Shawn and I have showed up to mid-term elections (in a state that has one of the highest voter turn-outs in the nation) and looked around and wondered if we'd come on the wrong day it was so empty.  

The guy in front of me had his ballot rejected by the optical scanner. He was able to put it in and have it count, but the guy in line behind me (an older black guy) joked about a "conspiracy," we all laughed in a ha-ha-ha-TOO-SOON kind of nervous way, even though Minnesota is possibly the single safest place to cast your vote in the country because we DO have state-constitution mandated paper ballots that (as Al Franken well knows) can be hand-counted in case a recount is necessary. It can take weeks (even months), but voter intention is clear and preserved on PAPER. Frankly, I have no idea why other states don't insist on this.

We also have voting day registration, with some of the fewest requirements nation-wide. A REGISTERED VOTER who is your neighbor can vouch for you. That's _all_ you need, if you literally have nothing else. But, most people have some form of mail that shows where they live -or- a driver's license or student ID (or a provisional one) with their current address.

When people wonder why we have such good turn-out here, I'm sure that's part of it. It's ridiculously EASY to vote here. There is early voting, plus employers are required to allow all their employees time off to vote.

But, Minnesota is one state. I can only pray that the rest of the nation is doing its part.

Comments

[bibliofile]

[sighs nostalgically] Wisconsin used to allow vouching by another registered voter, as one of your two pieces of ID for registering. But that was Before Walker, and things have changed. (STill not as bad as some places, whew.)

The thing about "free stuff if you voted" is that you have to technically offer it to anyone who asks, not just people with stickers. Otherwise you're technically bribing people to vote. So as long as they gave free coffee to anyone who asked (including people who voted but didn't get a sticker, e.g.), they're fine.

(Why yes, I do have many nerdly & pedantic instincts. Want to hyphenate "anal retentive"? Ask me how!)

[lydamorehouse]

Of course, I looked this up right after I posted it, and you're right. It's TECHNICALLY illegal. What I found suggested that, even so, no one is likely to prosecute. It's sort of like jaywalking. It's illegal, but harmless. And, yeah, my coffee shop was totally offering free coffee to anyone who SAID they voted, proof or no proof. Frankly, a sticker isn't real proof. I'd love to see this go to court (not the Supreme Court, mind you) because businesses are allowed to offer all sorts of other kinds of incentives that are directly asking them to change their lifestyles--bicycle rider perks, for instance. Voting is your right, it doesn't feel like BRIBERY to ask someone to vote their conscious. It feels like bribery to ask someone to vote the way YOU want them to.

But, yeah, go Wisconsin, eh?

[abracanabra]

Seriously. PAPER. Such bad shit has been going down in other states because of voting machine "errors." The future needs to remember the past on this one!

Easy voting, yay.

I really want instant runoff voting in all races, which apparently is a thing that one can do up to and including presidential???? Anyway, I have loved having the option and want it to be more broadly implemented.

[lydamorehouse]

I'm not a fan of instant runoff, aka the Australian ballot. I've seen it rob good stories from the Hugo Award. I'm perfectly fine with majority wins in this case. BUT, I totally agree that most states should have paper. Paper ballots are the best ballots.

[offcntr]

Oregon's voter turnout seems to have been over 79% this time out. A combination of strongly held opinions on both sides (I think Dems were 79.9%, Reps 79.4) and a system that makes voting extremely accessible.

We went to vote-by-mail only over a decade ago (with convenient drop boxes, including drive-ups, for people who don't want to use a stamp or don't vote until too late to use the post). I remember commentators on NPR at the time bewailing the choice, something about how the voting booth is a symbol of our democracy, yadda yadda. My reply was along the lines of "A voting booth belongs to the government, and is only brought out once or twice a year. My kitchen table belongs to ME, and is an everyday part of my life. Which is a better symbol of democracy?"

Plus, I can fill out my ballot on my schedule, with resource materials handy, kind of like a take-home test. Which was always my favorite kind. With this system, I no longer get ambushed by local or county races that didn't get in the paper or on the radio, because I can set the ballot aside, go online to research the candidates, then come back to it.

(Oregon also publishes a really killer, non-partisan Voter's Guide.)

[lydamorehouse]

I have to say that Oregon's method sounds pretty dang amazing. Is this true over in your neighboring state of WA, too? I feel like my friend who lives in Seattle said something about mailing-in her ballot, too.

Regardless, your kitchen table is the very BEST symbol of democracy, IMHO. As is the idea of a take home test.

[offcntr]

I think Washington went about it slightly differently, though the result is much the same. Oregon passed a law redesigning the voting system; Washington just decided "Everybody gets an absentee ballot."

As I recall, they went mail-only a few years after us. Now that I think back, we've been voting by mail for at least 18 years, as my last polling place was for our previous house...