Election Day Registration
I enjoyed three days in the Bay Area last week, mixing business and pleasure in an area where intellect and free-thinking is celebrated. It's wonderful to escape a place where you can tell the intellectuals by the fact that they have a subscription to TV Guide. Not that San Francisco doesn't go overboard a lot. As has been noted in this space before, it has gone to obscene lengths to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, especially when it comes to coddling freaks. But weird thinking is better than none at all.
A purpose of the trip was to host Rob McKay at the Sacramento Seminar, the political luncheon group of which I am delighted to be a member. It's a bunch of pols, journalists, lobbyists and other political types, and a coupla times we have a speaker at our Friday get-togethers. McKay is the Taco Bell scion who has put his money where his mouth is to sponsor Prop 52 on the November ballot.
The primary purpose of this measure is to enable people to register to vote on election day. It's already done in six other states and has increased voter turnout significantly, without seeing any increase in fraud. The concern among the incumbent pols is that they could be swept out of office by a last-minute tide of unhappy balloters, whereas now they feel relatively safe in the hands of the diminishing electorate that has to be registered at least 15 days prior to the election.
McKay spent considerable time and energy as well as money on Prop 52, not just touching bases but doing the serious research. He's certainly right that the number of people who actually cast a ballot is dangerously low, and if the measure passes, it should probably increase a shamefully depressed turnout. Or not, though it may be difficult to tell here in The Golden State where public disgust with the choice between Ka-Ching Davis and Simple Simon is providing the slothful with yet another excuse to eschew the voting process.
Of course, it is not an excuse, not a valid one; not for anyone who really cares about the democratic process. With our nation storming around the world trumpeting democracy, there is something scandalously wrong with the ridiculously small number of people who do actually manage to vote. Granted the choice is distressingly poor, but as we saw in 2000, every vote counts.
And indeed, it should be a simple matter to vote, which is why it's hard to oppose Prop 52. I think the worries that busloads of farmworkers or elderly are going to be ferried to polling places to help Democratic candidates is beneath ridiculous. On the other hand, I think everyone should vote, if only to cast a blank ballot, just to show that they take pride in being a citizen. I would go further, and say that people who don't bother to vote should be penalized. I have thought that maybe if you clip your ballot stub to your tax return, you should get a $25 credit, but Americans shouldn't have to be bribed to exercise this precious franchise. Nor is it likely that those who did it for the money would make an informed decision.
Here in Shasta County, there are few decent choices on the ballot. A handful of right-wingers will be elected over some remarkably wussy opponents, to represent the wing-nuts who populate this area. They'll probably vote down Prop 52, but in such small numbers that it won't make much difference statewide. The county clerk said in a newspaper article that she was unhappy with the measure because it would require her to hire more poll workers. She didn't mention, and probably didn't realize, that the state would pick up the extra cost.
The people of Redding are voting on fluoridation, and will probably vote against it, despite the desperate need of the black-toothed children in the area. The California Dentists PAC poured $800,000 to elect one of their number in the primary, and are spending zillions more to buy him a seat in the state senate, but they're not putting a single dollar behind the fluoride measure. No wonder so many people question the value of voting.
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
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