Time for my standard Election Day post, edited to bring it up to date.
I do love Election Day.
And it's a good one, lots of great stories. We have a big labor vs. Tea Party story in Issue 2 in Ohio, we have a couple of gubernatorials, some state legislatures, and some really obscure stuff -- including what may be a record number of recall elections (with two state legislative ones in Arizona and Michigan the -- relatively -- big news).
You know, most of my academic work and interests are all about how small a portion of democracy is occupied by today -- I think democracy is found in the complex workings of elites within party networks, and in Congressional committee rooms, and in interactions within issue networks, and in White House showdowns between the president and a reluctant Senator...all those things, to me, at an intellectual level, are democracy just as much as today's events. But nothing beats the rituals of Election Day. Hey, I even like the annoying and useless "What Does It All Mean" stories, as long as I can restrict my intake enough. I love watching the spin. I love the weather stories, and the cheesy shots of the candidates voting, and the oh-so-careful anchors not revealing what they all know from the exit polls (I miss the leaked exit polls, which made you feel like an insider if you heard them and a goof when they turned out to be phony. I'm one of those people who could easily do without the National Anthem, and the Pledge doesn't do much for me -- and I really dislike the Selig-imposed 7th inning GBA. But then today comes around, and I know that I'm a very patriotic citizen of the USA.
So, Happy Election Day, everyone! Vote early, vote often!
Here in Maine, we'll vote on Same Day Voter Registration, a right in this state for 40 years. And then our Republican controlled government decided there was fraud, and repealed it.
ReplyDeleteI and thousands of others took to the streets, gathering signatures for a referendum to repeal the repeal. We gathered about 20% more then needed to get it on the ballot.
After our success in getting the matter to the voters, the Secretary of State did an investigation into voter fraud, to retroactively prove the case for repealing same-day voter registration. They found a few instances of folk registered in multiple places -- an matter of clerk's sloppy paper work, not fruad, a few of folk who are not eligible to vote registering when asked if the wanted to while renewing their licenses, but no massive vote-stealing fraud. None.
Today, their pitch is that it's necessary to help ease the burden on election clerks on election day. But the clerks have steadfastly held that same-day voter registration is not a problem.
Citizen's ability to participate in the election process is under attack by Republicans right now. From repeal of same-day registration to tightening voter-registration drive requirements to ID requirements, Republicans mean to make it difficult for the young and the poor to vote.
We'll see what Maine voters decide.
Ironically, our Republican governor won office with less the a majority. His lead over the next candidate was smaller then the number of people who registered to vote as Republicans on that election day.
Preach it, brother! Amen!
ReplyDeleteI loved getting exit polls early until my guy told me Kerry was up by 6 in Florida.
ReplyDeleteGee, I guess you chose the right profession!
ReplyDeleteHa. I remember sitting in the war room in Ohio when the two head honchos went into a closet and emerged very ash faced around 2:00 PM on election day. The had the right numbers.
ReplyDeleteWhat does JB think about making Election Day a national holiday?
"I think democracy is found in the complex workings of elites within party networks, and in Congressional committee rooms, and in interactions within issue networks, and in White House showdowns between the president and a reluctant Senator"
ReplyDeleteThat all plus a kitschy electoral show, the rituals of a state religion that only a few fools believe in = "democracy"? Really? The "demos" seems either so restricted in this depiction, or its role so attenuated, as to have detached entirely from what we used to think of as "rule by the people."
I doubt the blogger really believes it, or wants to believe it, but it's what he expresses and what seems to animate much of his analysis: 300 millions sports fans, some of them entertained by political sport - all the grown-up business done by a 1% or less that largely overlaps the economic 1%.
Well, Zic, here's at least one Maine voter who supports same-day registration, and voted for repeal. It was the reason I schlepped to the polls in the first place.
ReplyDeleteBut then today comes around, and I know that I'm a very patriotic citizen of the USA.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I follow this. What does liking election days have to do with American patriotism? They have elections on other countries too. In fact, I would say that from what I've seen, the predictable and visible rituals of the thing are even more firmly ingrained in the UK than here, with actual hand counts of ballots at long tables, everyone turning on the news at exactly 10 p.m. (also poll-closing time) to get the first results, and candidates all wearing color-coordinated "rosettes" (red for Labour, blue for Tory, yellow for LibDem, green for Green, orange for Ulster Unionist, white for independent, etc.). The "returning officers" and Lord Mayors who announce the local results even wear oversized medallions, which I take it is some sort of faux medieval touch that (like most theme-park medievalism) probably dates from the 19th century.
@Zic
ReplyDeletethat's not ironic, that's just doing what's right instead of what benefits you personally xP it's a weird concept right?
i don't think unless a big election was soooo supersupersuper close that a small number of people doing it fraudulently would make a difference, but what about the small elections? in my area, our councilman races have like 100 total votes. if 3 people vote who aren't supposed to, that's 3% -- not an insignificant number!
plus, i never understood this -- if you sign up on that day, how do they ever verify you are who you say you are and you're allowed to vote? anyone can print a piece of paper that looks like a utility bill with an address on it. and the polling people are just volunteers. i just think there should be at least a week or 2 weeks to make sure you're eligible -- is that not reasonable or common sense?
The other day we received a phone call from Governor Sarah Palin, urging us to vote for an AG candidate (Todd P'Pool) here in Kentucky. Palin described P'Pool as a "trusted, common-sense conservative", which is apparently a good thing to be; however, Ms. Palin mispronounced his name, which was obvious by the tag at the end from the campaign HQ.
ReplyDeleteThis didn't bother me at all. If anything, I simply said "heh, I guess P'Pool's robocall doesn't come with a money-back guarantee". But like everything else in the political arena, the "moose on the table"/"ulterior motive" was never far from consciousness in processing the experience.
Which is the beauty of Election Day. Unless someone like Theresa LaPore is running your election, this is one day in the political process where "it is what it is". The one day where reading tea leaves, e.g. exit polling, is actually fun, as opposed to trying to figure out what this or that pundit is trying to achieve.
Election Day is beautiful because it is the closest thing to process-pure politics; today you don't suck for being a conservative or liberal or either secretly crossing the aisle - today you are what you are and it is what it is.
@Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThe problem with your concerns is that they *don't actually happen*. Find me these local elections in which 3 votes out of 100 are fraudulent. Find me these people who are printing up fake utility bills to register at the polls. The people pushing the voter fraud angle consistently can't come up with actual examples of why this is a problem that needs addressing, just hypotheticals and scare tactics.
What you're proposing is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. It's a solution being pushed pretty much exclusively by Republicans (and Artur Davis), and it conveniently enough benefits Republicans because people who register on election day skew Democratic. We all know it's not about protecting the integrity of democracy, it's about making it harder for Democratic-leaning constituencies to vote.
Yeah, and what it is in the local school district today is that we get to throw out a bunch of teachers'-union-controlled school board marxists who are spending us into politically correct bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteSo put that in your "complex workings of elites within party networks" pipe and smoke it. ;-)
We all know it's not about protecting the integrity of democracy, it's about making it harder for Democratic-leaning constituencies to vote.
ReplyDelete.
The law isn't biased against any constituency. It's biased against lawbreakers. And yes, there have been proven cases of lawbreakers in the electoral process, fyi.
One day, when we're all properly microchipped at birth, and instantly identifiable from 100,000 feet by predator drone, we may be able to allow the carbon units to register to vote same day. Not that their votes will matter at that point, but we'll play along with the facade that they do. But 'til that day, states will reserve the right to establish vote registry as they see fit.
Anonymous@12:38 -- Didn't even get into the other kind of voter fraud -- election fraud -- that happens. Removing thousands of legitimate voters from the rolls because their names are similar to known felons (Florida, 2000), faulty machines and not enough voting machines in poor neighborhoods, resulting in lines many hours long (Ohio, 2004), various instances of flyers mailed by party activists to folk registered in the opposing party stating wrong polling places or election dates; robocalls doing same (sporadically across the nation.)
ReplyDeleteThese activities disenfranchise many thousands more votes then individuals voting illegally.
And every case I know of in recent elections involves Republicans; though I'm sure going back in time, there were some similar Democratic shenanigans.
Adam wrote: "The people pushing the voter fraud angle consistently can't come up with actual examples of why this is a problem that needs addressing, just hypotheticals and scare tactics."
ReplyDeleteAnonymous wrote: "The law isn't biased against any constituency. It's biased against lawbreakers. And yes, there have been proven cases of lawbreakers in the electoral process, fyi. ... One day, when we're all properly microchipped at birth, and instantly identifiable from 100,000 feet by predator drone, we may be able to allow the carbon units to register to vote same day. Not that their votes will matter at that point, but we'll play along with the facade that they do. But 'til that day, states will reserve the right to establish vote registry as they see fit."
... Which is a funny sequence! I especially like anon's final sentence, which seems like either a superfluous thing to say or a way to dismiss vigorous debate and, like, voting, to decide on the policy. Instead, State's Rights are fervently invoked. Real Americans know what that means.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, but I love US election rituals, so that makes me patriotic!
OK, fine, I like UK election rituals too, but very much as a "look at the goofy things that other folks do" kind of attitude.
JB, truth be told, I think part of what makes the Anglo-Saxon countries' election rituals lovable is that we've mostly avoided some of the more obnoxious, like the ritual familiar in France (and I believe many other countries) of drivers racing up and down the thoroughfares honking their horns after their party wins. Then again, maybe to the locals those are beloved rituals too.
ReplyDeleteThe really remarkable thing about the UK ritual is that every party follows the same script, even the ones that are agitating for independence from the UK. And then the local MP candidates all stand on stage together as the results are announced, and instead of just speaking to their own supporters as they do here, the winners and losers make their victory / concession speeches with their opponents present. That's really how democracy should look, I think.
Real Americans know what that means.
ReplyDelete.
Well, just for the tally books, what does it mean?
Oh, you know. Fun stuff.
ReplyDeleteNo, we don't know. Tell us.
ReplyDelete