Frank and Ernest by Thaves for April 19, 2020

Well, that’s not any worse than Republicans wanting to base the number of votes each person gets to how much money or property they have.

Or them suppressing the vote in so many ways.

In Oregon, we started voting by mail almost 40 years ago. I wonder if 40 years from now, how many more states will make that decision to allow their citizens the right to not stand in sun/rain/snow/pandemic conditions and still have their vote/voice count? It would seem like it has to come around someday, right?

How about one vote for every year of your age?

It’s time for a national vote by mail system.

We lost the privilege of “one person, one vote” long ago, when we allowed wealthy corporations to be treated as ‘individuals’, and those wealthy ‘individuals’ to buy more influence than that “one vote” entails.

Actually Frank, through Voter Suppression we’ve never really had “One Person, One Vote”. Voting is the responsibility of every Citizen and that opportunity should never be denied to anyone.

in the election in Nov it may be done by mail. no lines, just a stamp.

Seems the postal system works come income tax time, don’t see why it would fail for voting.

If anything weight votes by how much one pays in taxes. The more taxes the more votes. Make politicians tax their supporters, lower taxes on the opposition who would vote them out. Bypass the PACs, buy your representative direct!

It was the first election of the post-apartheid era in South Africa, and the TV news crew was out in the boonies looking for good human-interest stories. The government hadn’t been able to set up sufficient polling locations or staff them fully, so there was a long line stretching out of one rural poll into the dusty prairie beyond. The crew set out, walking toward the end of the line, looking for likely interviewees.

They spotted one old gent, dressed colorfully but leaning heavily on his cane, and asked him where he was from. It turned out that he lived about 20 klicks away and had left the previous night, walking and resting as he went, to get here. He was nowhere near the front of the line, and they said it looked like things were moving slowly.

“That’s all right”, he said. “I can wait.”

“How long have you been waiting already?”, they asked.

“About 60 years.”

= = = = = =

I always vote.

Try telling the Indiana legislature you want to vote by mail!

Were Frank and Ernie in Wisconsin last week? Also, Trump has declared that voting by mail should be banned to avoid all the “thousands of people sitting in living rooms” sending in cheat votes. Yet, of course, he voted by mail.

Voting by mail works quite well. No standing in lines…

the choices don’t encourage me to vote

Then there’s the Citizens United principle: “One dollar, one vote”.

I don’t generally do politics, but I’ll insert an opinion here: we should switch to approval voting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting This would make third parties viable and perhaps reduce the polarization and gridlock we have now. (There are issues with every system; read the article carefully and check the external links.)

Ranked preferential voting via mail in ballot. RPV might not be feasible in voting for president but it has been shown to work in other elections. Mail in voting gets more people voting and is not prone to fraud as tiny “thinks.”