Like many of you, I've spent the past few days bitching, moaning, and crying. I've been yelling for some Democratic leaders to crawl back into the sunlight and give us something to stand for.
Not much has happened.
So now I'm over myself, and I'm putting an idea out here for your perusal. We had 11 states that had gay marriage propsitions on the ballot Tuesday. Why don't we, as angry, pissed off Democrats, work to put an Election Equality Proposal (or EEP! :) on the ballot next time?
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Before I start this, I need to say that I have absolutely no idea how politics, elections, or ballot initiatives work, or even what a polling place is required to have in it on Election Day (I voted absentee this year). So, if any of what I'm saying is redundant or anything, just let me know. Because I'm just going to kind of brainstorm for a while.
I live in Knox County, Ohio, home of Gambier and Kenyon College, where the kickass college kids stood in line until 4:00 am Wednesday in order to vote. This makes me absolutely sick to my stomach, as did reports of people who, due to economic difficulties or otherwise, were not able to vote. As someone on Kos said, "You can't count votes that were never cast." But I think a lot of those votes that weren't cast could have gone for our side.
So what I'm proposing in the EEP! is a type of election fairness doctrine, containing the following points (I'm going to use Ohio as the sample state here, but insert your own!):
- All precincts in Ohio must have the same voter to polling machine ratio. (I think I read that almost every precinct in Knox County had about a 1 polling machine to 168 person ration, except for Gambier, which had a 1 polling machine to 1000 person ratio. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, that was supposed to be the reason for the long lines at Kenyon. Pretty much everyone else I've talked to in Knox County reported only a 45 minute wait to vote)
- Voters must present 1 piece of picture identification in order to vote. (I know some Dems may not like this, and I'm willing to hear the reasons why. But I think it will cut down on the yelps of 'Potential Voter Fraud!' I hear from, yes, Republicans).
- All voting machines must have a paper trail. Nuff said. (I've heard that Ohio will enact this starting 2006, but I don't know about other states).
- All polling places must have a Voter's Bill of Rights posted in a prominent location. (Things to include on this would be 'You are able to vote if you've been registered to vote since -insert here, unless same-day registration is available-', stuff like information on voting rights for people who have been convicted of crimes, etc)
- All polling places must have a map of the county that is broken down into different precincts. That way, if you arrive at the wrong polling location, you can quickly figure out where you need to go.
Anyway, I was thinking of something along these lines. I don't know if some of these actually are requirements (it would be nice if they were, so we won't have to do the work!), but if not, I think they should be. But this is an issue that I think people, no matter what political party can get behind. So, how do we do it?
Also, I have a question about the polling challengers and the duty of poll workers. I've gotten the impression that poll workers have the final say in whether or not to issue a provisional ballot. If this is true, I think it would benefit the effort to have as many Dem poll workers as possible.
There are lots of reasons why Kerry didn't win, but I think the biggest is voter disenfranchisement and issuance of provisional ballots. So, let me know what you guys think, if this is even a feasible idea or not. Because I have to start feeling like I can change something, or else I'm going to curl up in a little ball and start weeping again. :)