Discussion Forums > Politics
2012 US Presidential Election
Ixarku:
I always thought that every citizen should automatically be registered to vote as well, but voting in the U.S. is another one of those areas that's regulated largely by individual states. Frankly, I think it's an outdated holdover from the time of the Constitution's creation, but I suppose it exists the way it does because the idea is that the states as a whole come together to agree on who should be in the federal government. And of course the actual voting process varies from state to state. I read somewhere yesterday that Washington state, I think it was, votes entirely by mail. Some states are experimenting with touch screen machines, obviously, and others are still doing paper ballots. It strikes me as anachronistic for every state to be doing their own thing.
I'm also surprised that no one's mentioned it yet, but Florida is once again the bastion of election day incompetence. I think it's hilarious that the big important swing state is the last one to get its votes in, and the election has been decided without us. So I went from living in 'one of the most important counties in the country with regards to the election' to a place that's completely irrelevant.
Tiffanys:
Actually, if you haven't seen it... we're working on a more technological solution with a new polling machine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmPtfy9P714
Ixarku:
Oh, yeah, I like that one. Burk or Nikk or somebody else shared that a few days ago. I reposted that on FB, and a few of my friends got a kick out of it too.
AceHigh:
Well, still better than EU where citizens don't even get to vote for the EU presidents. It's just some guys that nobody knows or cares about. The fact that there are several of them just makes the clusterfuck even worse.
Also hasn't anyone thought of using IRS database for automatic registration? They are probably the ones closest to a unified database on all legals in the country.
Ixarku:
--- Quote from: AceHigh on November 08, 2012, 12:06:13 PM ---Well, still better than EU where citizens don't even get to vote for the EU presidents. It's just some guys that nobody knows or cares about. The fact that there are several of them just makes the clusterfuck even worse.
Also hasn't anyone thought of using IRS database for automatic registration? They are probably the ones closest to a unified database on all legals in the country.
--- End quote ---
I don't think the issue is whether or not the information could be gleaned from national sources like the IRS. It's more that tradition and legal precedent has pretty firmly established that voter registration and most regulation of voting rights occurs at the state level. Almost every state currently requires that people actively choose to register to vote. As well, I think individual states maintain their own separate lists of registered voters. With the modern revolution in computer & information technology, I don't see any insurmountable technological limitations in gathering & maintaining the necessary information at a national level, but states-rights people and people who distrust the federal government would likely oppose it.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version