Compulsory Voting?

[SweetSecrets]

“Freedom’s Just Another Word”
Anna Quindlen (Newsweek - October 18, 2004)
__________________________________________________ ________________

“” We introduced the Australian exchange students to Honey Nut Cheerios. They introduced us to compulsory voting. In class, they’d heard about the woeful turnout in American elections. “But aren’t people concerned about paying the4 fine?” one of them asked.

It turns out that the laid-back country in which our two curious, self-possessed and intelligent houseguests live requires its citizens to vote. Really requires it. If you don’t show up at your polling place on Election Day, you are asked to provide an excuse in writing afterward. “The dingo ate my ballot” will not do. Unless you have a good explanation – a heart attack that morning, say- you are fined. The result is that Australia has one of the highest voter-turnout rates in the world, around 90 percent.

Lest we forget, only 51 percent of all voting-age Americans bothered to show up in the last presidential election, which means that while Australia may be a forcible democracy, we are barely a participatory one. (Unless you count participating in opining without action, an event at which Americans would win the gold medal if it ever became part of the Olympics.) Which makes me wonder: Why don’t we adopt the compulsory system the Aussies have embraced so successfully? And, on a lesser note, how come you can’t get Honey Nut Cheerios in Sydney?

Almost by magic, I feel a hostile horde behind my desk, the many Americans who have made it their life’s work to champion reckless abandon masquerading as liberty. Their causes may vary, but the motto is unwavering: “Wanna make me?” That’s why some states have been persuaded to weaken their seat-belt laws. That’s why there are motorcycle enthusiasts who make the right to ride without a helmet sound like Rosa Park’s moving to the front of the bus. That’s why there are all those smokers who complain the gulag outside the office-building door.

So facts can convince the rugged individualists hell-bent on emphysema or spinal injuries. Some 13,000 lives are saved each year because of seat belts. A National Highway Traffic Saftey Administration study last year showed that the severity and mortality of motorcycle accidents shot up when helmet laws were repealed. There have been studies on secondhand smoke and its link to such spread-the-death ailments as childhood asthma. Personally, I’m just happy to be able to taste my food in restaurants and not go home with m y hair smelling like that classic fragrance Philip Morris’s Eau de Fleur Tabac.

The argument is that you should be allowed to put your own body in harm’s way if you chose. (The fact that the collateral damage and the costs for the catastrophes and long-term care are spread around among the rest of us is conveniently overlooked.) But forgoing the vote is an injury to body politic, and that’s not a personal matter. Low voter turnouts hurt everyone because they erode the notion of government by the people and for the people; when we complain that big corporations and paid lobbyists have taken over politics, we should remember that nature abhors a vacuum. In fact it’s astonishing that we’ve blithely allowed Americans to drop out of the electoral process for so long. There’s no argument about this: when we make an act optional, we inevitably suggest that it’s not that important.

There’s been a real registration boom recently, with election boards in many states being forced to hire additional workers and schedule lots of overtime. As deadlines loomed, there were tsunamis of paper across the country. Philadelphia had its biggest jump in new registrations in 21 years. “Almost to an April 15, IRS post-office type of operation,” the elections director in Columbus, Ohio, told a reporter about the atmosphere at his office.

Some credit the work of registration groups like the ones spearheaded by hip-hop artists or pro wrestlers; others think voters were galvanized by how tight the 2000 race turned out to be, reversing the traditional cynicism about the value of a single vote. But almost everyone who studies voting patterns cautions: just because many have registered does not guarantee that many will actually go to the polls on Nov. 2. Sad, but rue: the United States has not had 60 percent of its voting-age citizens turn out since 1968. And 60 percent is not exactly a high-water mark.

What’s the price of freedom? How about a fine of 50 bucks? I like to be left alone as much as the next person, but there’s no point in continuing to be high and mighty about being the cradle of liberty if it’s just empty rhetoric. We laud free elections in formerly totalitarian nations, but, like a lot of what’s free, fresh air and ocean water and the like, we’ve learned to devalue the product. Democracy without participation is like a house with two walls: it just doesn’t stand up. Maybe our lackluster voting record means we’re not really interested in all that anymore, that our new message to the world might be something simpler and more modern: we make a slamming sugared cereal! “”

__________________________________________________ _______________


I think doing what the Aussies do would defintely help our voting situation. Yea, I know....suddenly we will have the worry of people not caring and just making a random vote. I say, at least we can get them IN the booth, then once they are in there they might actually give a thought to who they think would be the best representative of our country. If not, is that better than NO vote at all. I wonder what the Australians have to say about that?

Fellow Americans, it's definitely something to think about.

What do you think? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[academic punk]

Yay! Then we can go from wondering how politicians went from stealing elections to buying votes!

[Panamark]

I think you get a more accurate result of what the country is actually thinking when everyone has a say, even after taking into account the
donkey votes and the "vote buying" you refer to AP....

[FORD]

I don't think voting should be required. What I would like to see is that Election Day is declared a national holiday, so nobody has the excuse - real or not - of not being able to vote because of their work schedule. Either that or move the elections to the weekend. It's no coincidence that runoff elections in Louisiana - which are held on Saturdays - often have a much higher turnout than the regular Tuesday vote.

Yet another option is everybody votes their ballot by mail. I've been on permanent "absentee ballot" status since 1992. Did so at the time because I was moving once every year or so in those days and got tired of changing my polling place every time. Since then, this county votes ALL primary elections strictly by mail, and they're considering doing so for the generals. I've lived at my current address nearly 6 years, but the only time I've gone to my "official" polling place was for last years Democratic caucus.

The obvious benefit of all-mail ballots is that it takes the Diebold fraud off the table completely. Naturally, safeguards would need to be in place to insure ballots don't get "lost" in the mail. Sadly, our county government here is in Republican hands (even in Liberal Olympia, it happens) but they have never been accused of anything seriously suspicious to my knowledge. They have been doing mail only elections for over a decade, and know the drill. It's the other counties and other states adjusting to the system that would be the test (I'm imagining serious rises in corruption in the Florida postal system even now....)

[Panamark]

It would be interesting to see what America is really thinking, as
opposed to the handful of people that can actually be bothered to
vote.

I wonder how many gasbags you have in your country that have
"strong political views" yet never vote ? You know the ones, they
will talk your ears off forever, but its too much trouble to get off
their ass and actually try to make a difference.....

Hypocrisy at its finest.

[FORD]

see www.freerepublic.com for an example of such people.

[academic punk]

Eh - I don't think it matters what day of the week an election takes place or if it's a national holiday.

If someone wants to do it, they'll go out of their way to do it.

BTW - P-Mark, nop way was I trying to say that Australia's system is corrupt. I was merely referring to my own fine country's habit and need of taking a good thing and perverting it to death.

[SweetSecrets]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets
Well what if we didn't take the free will out of it. What if it was just a requirement to "go vote"...in other words, walk into a voting booth with your little card. What I mean is, maybe once you are in the booth, you have the option to choose a candidate or mark a box that says "I chose not to cast a vote for either side". You wouldn't be pentalized for marking this vote, so it couldn't be said that the country forced you to vote. The only thing you would be pentalized for is not showing up! Instead the requirement would just get your lazy ass in there in the attempt to vote. I think that if everyone was forced to go in there, they would chose to vote for someone. However, the freedom not to vote would still be available by marking that other box. I think this would increase voter turnout immensly, while not actually "forcing" someone to vote.

Plus it would be interesting to see what the stats show in regards to how many people marked the "i don't care to vote box". Hey! There could even be a multiple choice requirement underneath the "I don't care to vote box", in which, if you checked that box, you could mark your reason for not voting...

like: (a) I don't feel like it
(b) I don't know enough to make a logical vote
(c) I dislike both candidates
(d) I don't want jury duty
(e) fuck this country
(f) other


It would be interesting to see the stats from that, ya know?

This way...voting is not maintatory...just showing up is. That would take care of the smart mouths who don't vote because they are too lazy to do it.

[Warham]

"There you go again." - Ronald Reagan speaking to FORD on the Army forum about freerepublic.com

[SweetSecrets]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by FORD
[B]I don't think voting should be required. What I would like to see is that Election Day is declared a national holiday, so nobody has the excuse - real or not - of not being able to vote because of their work schedule.


No, it just means that they would have a different excuse! :

- "It was a holiday, so I spent it with my kids since my work schedule is so busy."

- " We all went out on the boat and got drunk and had a barbcue. Who has time to vote?" (that's American!)

- "I slept in! It was a holiday! I didn't wake up until 3, so I just didn't go" (that would be every voter in college)

I think a holiday would make it worse! People would be EVEN more lazy. In fact, giving them a day off of work, is basically asking for people not to care.

A holiday is a holiday... We tend to let go of our business sense when we can sleep in late for a change.

[FORD]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets


No, it just means that they would have a different excuse! :

- "It was a holiday, so I spent it with my kids since my work schedule is so busy."

Because election day would still be on Tuesday, there wouldn't be a three day weekend involved. I don't know too many people that make extensive plans for holidays like Veterans Day (aside from visiting a cemetary or something) which usually fall in the middle of the week.

For that matter, take the kids with you. As long as they don't actually take a ballot, they could actually learn a lot about the process by observation.

- " We all went out on the boat and got drunk and had a barbcue. Who has time to vote?" (that's American!)

Sure it is, but barbecues and drinking don't start at 7 AM (unless it's a weekend kegger) You got all morning to vote. And who barbecues in November?

- "I slept in! It was a holiday! I didn't wake up until 3, so I just didn't go" (that would be every voter in college)

Polls are open until 8:00 :)

I think a holiday would make it worse! People would be EVEN more lazy. In fact, giving them a day off of work, is basically asking for people not to care.

A holiday is a holiday... We tend to let go of our business sense when we can sleep in late for a change.

If people are really that lazy and/or just don't give a shit, then there's really nothing you can do for them. Shit, if getting these dominionist-fascists out of the White House wasn't enough to motivate them, I doubt a whole week off would make a difference.

But that's not everybody. I'm aiming for the people who really would vote, if the circumstances were different, but they work graveyard shift and sleep in the mornings, or work 12 hour shifts and are just too damned tired, or those who have to work more than one job (probably because of Junior's economy) As I said, the Saturday runoffs in Louisiana are a good indication that voting turnout would be higher on a day when the majority of the population was not working.

[academic punk]

And then people could have the excuse of "I went to my polling center, but the lines were too long, so I left."

Don't think that doesn't happen. Think that doesn't happen? look at what happened on college campuses across Ohio.

[SweetSecrets]

FORD,

Yes I agree with you on all of that...

but the 60% of people that do vote already in this country are the type you are referring to....the type that was "raised right"...like you, I'm sure (or the good majority of us here at the ARMY) who WOULD take their children to the cemetary on VETS Day.

But....I'm talking about the other 40% percent of Americans who don't vote.

A large majority of them, do not have the ability to think like we do and understand LOGIC and FREEDOM.

So, we have to either educate them (which we seem to have an extremely hard time doing already) or MAKE them by throwing the fear of a "fine" in their face for not respecting freedom.

Doing what you say, may raise voting turn out by 5% nationwide, but that isn't worth much when considering the other 35% who would rather have a barbecue or don't care.

AND YES, I do know people who were intelligent and worthy of a logical vote....yet skipped out on registering to avoid things like, jury-duty.

And I also know a lot of idiots who would take that TUESDAY you are referring to, and run with it (in a direction far away from voting polls).

[SweetSecrets]

Originally posted by academic punk
And then people could have the excuse of "I went to my polling center, but the lines were too long, so I left."

Don't think that doesn't happen. Think that doesn't happen? look at what happened on college campuses across Ohio.

...another example of our country's fine bureaucracy: "Let there be two voting booths set up on a campus with 500,000 students...that would really encourage them to vote during the 'government' holday!"

Wow, that really encourages the message to vote! (sarcasm)

[academic punk]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets
FORD,


And I also know a lot of idiots who would take that TUESDAY you are referring to, and run with it (in a direction far away from voting polls).

In fact, I know plenty of people who'd take that Monday off and enjoy themselves a nice four-day weekend.

Shit, I'd absentee ballot it, and do that myself!

[academic punk]

Originally posted by academic punk

Don't think that doesn't happen. Think that doesn't happen? look at what happened on college campuses across Ohio.

what the hell is up with my sentence construction in this post???

I so need a nap...

[SweetSecrets]

Originally posted by academic punk
what the hell is up with my sentence construction in this post???

I so need a nap...

Yea...Academic P., glad it's not that government Tuesday holiday for you!

Naps are waaaaaaaaaay more important when you've been up writing papers until 3 AM in college....or (if your not the "academic" type like Mr. ACADEMIC P., here)...getting stoned and wasted at the college pub!

[academic punk]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets
Yea...Academic P., glad it's not that government Tuesday holiday for you!

Naps are waaaaaaaaaay more important when you've been up writing papers until 3 AM in college....or (if your not the "academic" type like Mr. ACADEMIC P., here)...getting stoned and wasted at the college pub!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Naw, I think I've just been distracted with all these strange speeding saucer-like objects up in the sky interrupting my REM cycles!!

:)

[SweetSecrets]

Wow! Even more reason to vote! Maybe your **STRANGE PSYCHADELIC ACADEMIC HIGH** will make Jimi Hendrix appear on the voting ballot as an option for president.

Kiss the sky, dude.

Watch out for Spammy up there. Apparently they probed him.

[FORD]

Originally posted by academic punk
And then people could have the excuse of "I went to my polling center, but the lines were too long, so I left."

Don't think that doesn't happen. Think that doesn't happen? look at what happened on college campuses across Ohio.

From what I've heard, that was deliberate understaffing of the polls at the direction of our friend Uncle Tom Blackwell, in the hopes that voters would get impatient and leave. Unfortunately, some did :(

But others stayed there until 2:30 AM, which is why they couldn't call the state.

My response to that is three things:

1) Polling places are reasonably staffed to handle the volume of voters. They would probably need to have extra volunteers committed to coming in at a moment's notice on an "on-call" basis. For fuck's sake this is Ohio! Didn't they learn anything from that Who concert in 1979?? That's what happens when you schedule too damn few people to handle a big turnout.

2) Anyone who is late coming back from lunch on voting day is excused with no consequences. If there is no holiday, this is the very least that can be expected.

3) Everyone who is in line when the polls close gets to vote. No exceptions. No matter how long it takes. If they're still standing in line at 2:00 AM, they have proven they are more than worthy of a vote, in my opinion.

[FORD]

Originally posted by academic punk
In fact, I know plenty of people who'd take that Monday off and enjoy themselves a nice four-day weekend.

Shit, I'd absentee ballot it, and do that myself!

As long as you have voted, enjoy the 4 day weekend.

You must be a government employee, right? ;)

[SweetSecrets]

Originally posted by FORD
From what I've heard, that was deliberate understaffing of the polls at the direction of our friend Uncle Tom Blackwell, in the hopes that voters would get impatient and leave. Unfortunately, some did :(

But others stayed there until 2:30 AM, which is why they couldn't call the state.

My response to that is three things:

1) Polling places are reasonably staffed to handle the volume of voters. They would probably need to have extra volunteers committed to coming in at a moment's notice on an "on-call" basis. For fuck's sake this is Ohio! Didn't they learn anything from that Who concert in 1979?? That's what happens when you schedule too damn few people to handle a big turnout.

2) Anyone who is late coming back from lunch on voting day is excused with no consequences. If there is no holiday, this is the very least that can be expected.

3) Everyone who is in line when the polls close gets to vote. No exceptions. No matter how long it takes. If they're still standing in line at 2:00 AM, they have proven they are more than worthy of a vote, in my opinion.

Oh, I'm sorry...Are we referring to the same country here?

That seems way too demanding of them.

More than three steps it far too many! They can't handle that.

[academic punk]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets
Watch out for Spammy up there. Apparently they probed him.

So THAT'S what that fat fucking blob was in the last UFO (travelling at significantly slower speed than all the others, b/c of the increased mass)!!

[academic punk]

Originally posted by FORD

You must be a government employee, right? ;)

Not with my fuckin' sailors mouth, I ain't...

[FORD]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets
FORD,

Yes I agree with you on all of that...

but the 60% of people that do vote already in this country are the type you are referring to....the type that was "raised right"...like you, I'm sure (or the good majority of us here at the ARMY) who WOULD take their children to the cemetary on VETS Day.

But....I'm talking about the other 40% percent of Americans who don't vote.

A large majority of them, do not have the ability to think like we do and understand LOGIC and FREEDOM.

So, we have to either educate them (which we seem to have an extremely hard time doing already) or MAKE them by throwing the fear of a "fine" in their face for not respecting freedom.

Doing what you say, may raise voting turn out by 5% nationwide, but that isn't worth much when considering the other 35% who would rather have a barbecue or don't care.

AND YES, I do know people who were intelligent and worthy of a logical vote....yet skipped out on registering to avoid things like, jury-duty.

And I also know a lot of idiots who would take that TUESDAY you are referring to, and run with it (in a direction far away from voting polls).

If jury duty is what's keeping people out of the polls, that's dumb. I've been voting since 1984, and I've never been called for jury-duty once. Though my mom was selected like 4 times in 10 years and managed to get out of three of them. I do remember being told when I was 18 that I wouldn't get to vote unless I also signed up for selective service. So I did so, knowing that voting against Reagan was the best thing I could do to avoid being drafted. Bad news is that Reagan won, good news is he didn't need a draft to invade Grenada :rolleyes: And by the time Bush Sr got in, I was out of the prime drafting age - had that conflict become the mess that his son's war has.

Maybe that explains the surprising lack of voting in the 18-24 age group? If registering with the Selective Service is still a requirement, maybe they decided they would rather not do that and volunteer their names to Bush/PNAC?

If that's the case, I can understand their positions, but the best way to avoid a draft is to vote out the assholes who start the wars.

[academic punk]

I know lots of folks here in NYC who opt not to vote and don't even have a drivers license (in NYC, it's hardly even necessary) to stay "invisible" to the prospect of jury-duty.

Can't understand the logic. I've been called twice now, and both times been dismissed. (Both cases were drug-related, and during the preliminary questions, I do articulate that I do understand the current drug laws, and am willing to prosecute on a drug offense (if you know the rules, my belief is, you know the consequences for breaking them), but I do believe that many if not all illegal drugs should be legalized. Without fail, the defense doesn't want me 'cause I'm willing to prosecute, and the prosecution doesn't want me, b/c I'm questioning the legal system as it stands)

Too bad. It's actually something that I would really like to take part in and contribute to.

(Actually, come to think of it, I HAVE sorta contributed...I met my last girlfriend while we were both part of the jury selection pool!)

Anyhoo, back to the point, staying out of jury duty is indeed keeping many folks from the polls.

[SweetSecrets]

Originally posted by FORD


If that's the case, I can understand their positions, but the best way to avoid a draft is to vote out the assholes who start the wars.

You must mean your children's ability to avoid the draft. Voting in this sense wouldn't help you if you were trying to avoid a draft for a war that was about to occur if a president was elected. That would admirably yet ignorantly be assuming that your vote is going to make the difference you need to avoid the draft. It would take the majority of America's vote as well...sure would suck if that president (Reagan) had needed the draft. Although it is quite admirably American (in the old sense of "American"), FORD, sadly most people wouldn't be that selfless (as you :) ) in today's America. If their main concern was avoiding a possible draft, they would simply choose not to register to avoid being drafted (if that was possible) rather than try to vote that person from office and hope that the rest of America feels the same.

[SweetSecrets]

Originally posted by academic punk
Not with my fuckin' sailors mouth, I ain't...

I would say that lack of intelligence or better yet, lack of work ethic, would be more of a credential for governement employment then language content. Some of our "astounding" (sracasm) governemt employees in this country are barely a step above fast food workers.

U.S. Embassies are often worthless for little things like losing passports. I know this after having lost mine in France. After not being able to reach them at 4 PM on a Friday, I stood at a pay phone in some "po-dunck" little village within Normandy cussing to myself as 8 American embassy employees proceeded to tell me that my only hope of getting out of the country soon (I was scheduled to leave the next day) would be to wait until Wednesday to SIMPLY request an emergency passport out of France. In that case, I might be lucky to get out in 2 weeks...if my request could pass through all the government shit that soon.

Did I get out the next day?.......Yes.

With the 8 employees help of the American Embassy?.......No.

Who got me out:................1 single American Airlines representative

This one airline representative who gave a fuck about my situation made phone calls to the French border patrol for me, making arrangements (which airline personalle are not required nor payed to do) to be allowed to leave France. This ONE single employee of the airline managed to get in contact with 10 people above her to assist her in this process. The day I left the French border patrol, they simply waved at me as I passed straight through to get on the plane home. The airline solved all my problems for me right there on the phone.

The American government did nothing.....USELESS.

The United States government cared less about my situation then the airline did.

[FORD]

Originally posted by academic punk
Not with my fuckin' sailors mouth, I ain't...

Yes, it is an adjustment for those of us with a "sailors mouth" (even though I was never in the Navy).

But then, I used to work for a Bible software company too. Imagine the self control it took to do that! ;)

[SweetSecrets]

Originally posted by FORD
Yes, it is an adjustment for those of us with a "sailors mouth" (even though I was never in the Navy).

But then, I used to work for a Bible software company too. Imagine the self control it took to do that! ;)

I know what you mean, FORD! As a second grade teacher, I often find myself about to cuss in class, and have to stop myself. If a child is really pissing me off, I just want to go "Will you not just FUCKING listen to me you little prick!"

Then, I stop myself. (Thank God :) )

[SweetSecrets]

I'm still waiting for the Aussies to comment on this thread? I guess they just never come around in this thread because it is always so focused on American politics.

Would love to hear some Aussie opinions here!!

[Panamark]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets
I'm still waiting for the Aussies to comment on this thread? I guess they just never come around in this thread because it is always so focused on American politics.

Would love to hear some Aussie opinions here!!

Well I'll throw another 2 cents in. I like the voting model we have here.
They make it easy as anything. Every school in your area is setup
as a polling booth, it takes five minutes of your time. If you
dont want to vote, you just fillout crap numbers on your voting
slip. Your name is not recorded on the slip..

We always get a percentage of donkey votes, but its only very
small.

The majority want to have a real say.

[Nickdfresh]

I like the issue FORD brought up, Election day should be a national holiday.

[academic punk]

An agency I used to freelance at (BBDO, they're huge, roster includes Pepsi, Gillette, etc.) supposedly gives the employees election day off.

It doesn't happen. If you have a presentation on Thursday for a $300,000,000 million dollar client, you're going to work.

Again, if people WANT to vote, they will. If they don't, they won't, either by not showing up or by, as P-Mark notes, scribbling some nonsense, and finding out that they helped elect Bill the Cat.

I think this country is now on the right track. In 2000, it was "cool" to be apathetic. That's COMPLETELY no longer the case. I think each election year will see greater and greater turn-outs for at least the next five years (including 2008's presidential election).

We also saw how 20,000 votes in one state can determine the election. That's NOTHING. So poeple will now be more motivated than ever to sa, "my vote DOES count."

And if getting to a polling booth is such an imposibility and inconvenience b/c of your work schedule, there is always the absentee ballot option so you KNOW you got it taken care of.

[Seshmeister]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets
I know what you mean, FORD! As a second grade teacher, I often find myself about to cuss in class, and have to stop myself. If a child is really pissing me off, I just want to go "Will you not just FUCKING listen to me you little prick!"

Then, I stop myself. (Thank God :) )

As a second grade teacher you'll fit in fine aorund here...:)

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Seshmeister
As a second grade teacher you'll fit in fine aorund here...:)

Hey! I resemble that remark!:mad: :D

[SweetSecrets]

Originally posted by academic punk

We also saw how 20,000 votes in one state can determine the election. That's NOTHING. So poeple will now be more motivated than ever to sa, "my vote DOES count."



I don't know, Academic P. I feel like people have always known that.

I mean, just look at the election before last....the whole Florida confusion thing. We realized that then, yet it didn't seem to matter this time around. Still, only 60% of America voted.

[academic punk]

Originally posted by SweetSecrets
I don't know, Academic P. I feel like people have always known that.

I mean, just look at the election before last....the whole Florida confusion thing. We realized that then, yet it didn't seem to matter this time around. Still, only 60% of America voted.


Sure it mattered. It's not a matter of "only" 60% of the country voting...it's a matter of the largest turn out in the polls in the history of the country. Just b/c the results may have been disappointing (well, for me and FORD at least) doesn't take away from that fact (and that the largest number of votes ever against the victor).

And last time around it came down to faulty machines and whatnot. This time, it was about the votes and voters themselves.

2008 will be interesting b/c it's improbable that someone who will appeal so much to the neo-con vote will be the Republican candidate, so a HUGE segment of the population that reelected Bush may not turn out again (as they tradtitionally have not). The again, the lib and progressive side may not have as mcuh vehement motivation to get out and vote.

But I think it will be ...mmmm...65%. Time'll tell.

[Panamark]

As for the public holiday, great idea !!
The bastards always make polling day on a Saturday here :(

[FORD]

Originally posted by Panamark
As for the public holiday, great idea !!
The bastards always make polling day on a Saturday here :(

So what's the problem with that? vote early and then start your election party :gulp:

[Panamark]

True dat, most people go in the morning..
We normally have a real result that night..

Good system..