Tom Toles for February 06, 2013

I can’t wait to see how the Republicans are going to re-brand this.

Pretty much lays out the plan, doesn’t it?

Seriously, as a foreigner, I really don’t get why you folks make it so darned difficult to practice democracy. I vote at every one of our elections, it is compulsory so everyone does it, but in over 35 years of voting, queues are never more than 10 minutes – not that I can recall the last time I had to wait.For once, Mr Ima is right: I don’t understand the USA.And please, no one play the party politics game, you’ve had this problem for a long time.

I blame the elderly poll workers. They move too slowly to process you. It took me 30 mins to vote last time even though I was the ONLY voter in the entire precinct.

Besides cutting voting days Republicans loaded up the ballot with 11 amendments to the state constitution, mostly from out of state interests. 8 amendments didn’t pass.

I stood in line for two and a half hours to vote. Considering what others went through/are going through just to have the right to vote, it didn’t seem so long.

Me, I can’t understand why we haven’t either made Election Day a national holiday or moved it to the weekend. Having it on Tuesday is a relic of the 19th century.

disenfranchised or lazy?

I waited over 2 hours to vote Holding my helmet and heavy leather jacket. The elderly and those in wheelchairs were brought to the front of the line.

Considering the sacrifice that our serving men and women make every so I can vote, those 2 hours didn’t seem so bad…

The Electoral College is outdated and now stupid along with being deceptive. It should be abolished and the president chosen by popular vote. We would not stand for this system in any Democratic Republic in any other part of the world. Why put up with it here?

The republican way – don’t alter your policy to win new voters, disenfranchise them. That is how the GOP operates. A great embarrassment for America. A GREAT embarrassment.

I live in FL. When I went to vote only 4 voters were there but I had to wait 15 minutes because two of those in line ahead of me had requested mail-in ballots and hadn’t mailed them in. The process involved the poll worker asking questions about their addresses and having to make a phone call before giving them provisional ballots.

why should dead people not be allowed to vote ? it took almost 6 minutes to get a ballot this last election terrible long lines

It’s actually worse here in Alameda, County, California, especially in the parts represented by the US 15th Congressional District (Eric Swalwell). The top two candidates in the primary elections in May remain as the only names on the ballot in the final election in November, with no chance for a write-in candidate, because the registrar of voters in Alameda County will not recognize it. So in the last general election, we had a choice only between two Democrats, Swalwell and Stark, and no other candidates from any other party. Just another reason why the State of California is turning into the Kalifornische Demokratische Republik when you get right down to it, because we are now starting to vote the way the Soviets used to do it.

I am hoping the counties in Florida that had long lines will ‘lay off’ their voting officials and hire competent ones. Delays are a local issue. My county had no problems.

PocketNaomi: And fiddling with it ever since. The US was founded on the idea of no parties – factions would shift with the issues. Britain looked at it as prescribed a loyal party in power and a loyal opposition. The only time the US claimed a “loyal opposition” was the Ev and Charlie Show (self named). De facto, the US permits only two parties – if any other gets in, they have to use “Independent” rather than their real party name. Germany has 20% of parliament by total popular vote. That is how the Greens got in without winning a single district, and a couple of decades later provided the foreign minister and the ministers of natural resources and of consumer affairs – a couple of portfolios the US won’t let in the cabinet. It is amazing this muddling through has worked this long.

Obama won by a wide margin in the popular vote this time, though by a wider margin in the electoral college vote. Here in my state, I have often voted in one-party elections with only one party’s candidates on the ballot. Is it any wonder that so many don’t bother to vote in Presidential elections when they know in advance which candidate their state will go for? I favor direct election of the president not because I think my guy will always win that way, but because it is more fair and more just, for every vote to count in the ONLY election that is national. I also favor mandatory voting, with those who don’t vote to be regarded exactly like those who don’t show up for jury duty or otherwise shirk their civic responsibilities. That’s the way elections worked in my state in 1776. Now, if only 60% of the voters vote, then even the candidate who wins 60% of the vote only has the support of 36% of all the voters! And what election has had that good a turnout, and such one-side results? Our system groans and wheezes with age. It need reformation badly. But in each state the dominate party wants to prevent change because change will threaten its dominance, or proposes change not based on any real principle of justice, but only those which enhance its power. I would be perfectly happy to see electoral votes awarded proportionally in all the states. This wound place only one EV at stake in each state, and mean every vote would really count and could really make a difference. Recently a scheme was put forward in at least one state to away EVs by congressional district, which is only to make a bad situation worse, giving the increasing political segregation of the county, by creating ever more “safe” EVs, and in that state. The president should not be elected by districts (that can be gerrymandered) or by states or by “electors” (a system modeled on the Holy Roman Empire of all things) but by the citizens of the whole country.

If GOP policies were good for the majority of voters, they wouldn’t need to try to limit votes.

Where are people standing in long lines to vote? I have never had to wait to vote. Ever. How precincts are laid out and staffed is a local issue. Go complain to your county board of elections.

Ima; re your first comment, those were APPLICATIONS to vote, NOT ballots. And what the hell do gays have to do with this issue? In Ohio, we had to suffer through Ken Blackwell deciding polling hours, trying to specify how many machines per precinct, and people waiting into the late night hours to vote. We now have John Husted, who has some good ideas, but kept interpreting the law to allow himself the ability to keep counties from allowing extended hours. As to absentee ballots, we have those who only want them sent out if the county can afford it. You have to ASK for an application to vote absentee, then hope they get your app, process it correctly, and get it back to you on time. Husted also wanted to allow early voting on the last weekend prior to the election only for the military. At least our Republican majority Supreme Court understood this was discriminatory and told him no.

Thanks for the responses to my question. It was a genuine query, though as usual Ima misunderstood it. I was not interested in any discussion regarding blaming one or other political party.And Ima, we get more choice than you, as does most of the rest of the world.