Erica (bewilderbeast) wrote, @ 2004-10-02 19:25:00

To be more clear:
Is this what a democracy is supposed to look like? In Florida, ex-convicts (who are supposed to have their rights as citizens returned to them!) are barred from voting. Unless, of course, they're Hispanic and more likely to vote Republican.

In 2000, many black people whose names are similar to those of these same former convicts were also barred from voting. Several members of the House of Representatives protested this at the hearings, and were forced to stand down due to arcane procedural rules. In many areas, blacks and other minority voters were required to show both identification and a voter registration card (white folks in suburbia -- have you ever had to do this? When I voted, all we had to do was sign so they could compare that with the signature on file from our registration.)

This year, as linked below, an official from one of the major makers of electronic voting machines has promised the election to Bush. You know, the ones with no paper trail. More scary news about electronic voting machines here.

And if you think voting absentee is going to do you any better, remember that several states have missed their deadlines for sending out absentee ballots... so good luck to the folks overseas trying to return theirs on time. Yet the military (traditionally more conservative) has a website set up for their use only in the name of a mandate that was supposed to extend to all overseas voters. Some states even allow party officials to handle absentee ballots, and of these many lack a requirement for a witness or notary to also sign.

In the same vein, several local-level elections have had court cases come out of the actions of party members in collecting voter registrations... and "mislaying" those likely to vote for the "wrong side." And in Ohio, state election officials are throwing out registrations because they aren't thick enough (also linked below).

And y'all already know how I feel about gerrymandering (which the frickin' Supreme Court decided to allow in a case against Pennsylvania brought to them!) and the winner-take-all system.

On a lighter note, something interesting: diagram + politics = goodness.

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