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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
In Finland, about a third (IIRC) of all votes in most elections are cast in advance instead of the final voting day. How many cast early ballots in US elections? And do you think it's likely that people who will be affected by Sandy will have the foresight to vote in advance?
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.It was 30% of all Americans in 2008, but it seems like it'll be 40% this election
.
Somehow I doubt Sandy will effect voting all that much to begin with, due to the fact that America is freaking huge and isn't going to reach large swathes of it. Also, it appears that a higher percentage than usual is already voting early! So uh... I think the effects will be negligible. That and I think that if Hurricane Sandy fucks up things shortly before or on the actual voting day then morally they'd be required to wait until they could get the votes in anyway. *shrug* Don't know how that would be handled, actually, but somehow I doubt the hurricane is going to stick around for two weeks.
Pennsylvania apparently does not offer early voting. It, along with New York, is likely to see significant power outages from Sandy, which may persist to Election Day. A lot of voting in Pennsylvania is done electronically.
You know, if this causes a lot of poorer people to miss their opportunity to vote... PA could swing red.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"It could also reveal attempted vote manipulation if electronic machines that were out all day have results that couldn't possibly have been entered into them.
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.I really don't like this whole electronic voting thing.
"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." TwitterI don't really get why allowing people to vote outside usual procedure, given extreme circumstances, is... fraud. Heck: in Britain, if a poll station gets an influx of people too late in the day to process by official closing time, but there's a queue of people waiting... any who got into the queue before deadline are allowed to vote, no matter how long it takes to process it.
This is in the same region: if a poll station suddenly found itself under water on voting day (say, due to a burst water-main), provision would be made to set up again near enough the point as feasible... ASAP... and to allow those waiting in the mean time to vote, if they had not been able to do, upon restart.
It's not rocket science.
edited 26th Oct '12 2:57:52 PM by Euodiachloris
I'm a bit late for the abortion politics thing, but here's my two cents:
I'm pretty much pro-life. I earnestly believe that all life is sacred, no matter the means that went about creating it. The product of an ill-educated teenage tryst could end up doing great things with their life later on down the road, if given the chance. Same for the product of a rape.
That said, a social safety net for the poor, education about pregnancy early on, adoption options and access to contraceptives are a must-have. I believe that abortion should only be used as a last-resort. Since miscarriages happen (usually) when the body figures out that the pregancy isn't going to work properly (although birth defects still happen), there's only a small percentage of pregnancies that will result in posing actual risks to the mother in which case an abortion should be considered in order to save the life of the mother.
The product of a rape is a significanlty messier situation, though. A robust adoption system might alleviate this, along with ample counseling for the now-mother, and plenty of justice for the rapist. But I earnestly believe that the child should be afforded the chance to live life as a productive member of our society, without some sort of stigma attached to them.
...but that's just my take, my stance and my views, and I'm sure they differ from many posters here.
Anyway. I'm hoping that the outcome of Sandy doesn't impact poor voters along the Atlantic coast.
^ ...hold on, I need to bash my head against something.
edited 26th Oct '12 3:05:17 PM by pvtnum11
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Here: take some Syndol
... for some reason, I've been needing to use mine, and I just happen to have them handy...
edited 26th Oct '12 3:11:37 PM by Euodiachloris
You know, looking at the Oregon ballot, it's pretty biased in layout. Where it lists the candidate's party, most of the Democrats are listed as "Democrat, Working Families". And then for president, Obama's listed at the very top, and Romney is right near the bottom of seven dudes wedged between Gary Johnson and Will Christensen for no discernible alphabetical reason.
Wait, another Oregonian?
I miss the trees and ten-minute summers.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.Yeah, the working families thing is a bit much. Who hires your election officials?
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
Make cards that are compatible with consumer model hole punchers?
Hell no, voter fraud could actually be a problem then. Make something that you need a voting machine to use.
You know what, early voting could be done with a machine in a post office. That'd make it convenient, and there'd be a federal employee on hand to make sure nothing illegal happens.
edited 26th Oct '12 4:02:39 PM by Joesolo
I'm baaaaaaack

@35449: A Cracked article once said that bad weather is often blamed on incumbent politicians and that poor people often can't go voting in bad weather.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman