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#18818 02/20/01 06:31 PM
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give me the <party of choice> ballot

That doesn't sound too bad. Is there a <none of the above> option?


#18819 02/20/01 06:35 PM
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> Is there a <none of the above> option?

unfortunately, no -- and I've been disenfranchised for 27 years!


#18820 02/20/01 08:05 PM
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That doesn't sound too bad. Is there a <none of the above> option?

That question brought to mind another one that I have never been able to nut out. How can a country call itself a democracy, and yet attempt to compel its citizens, under threat of sanction, to vote? Australia does this, and it bewilders me. Fortunately for me, the democracy I live in does allow its citizens to choose for themselves whether they wish to participate in the democratic process or not. The idea that someone could be liable to judicial penalty for choosing not to vote seems, to me, to be fundamentally at odds with the spirit and principle of democracy. How say you?


#18821 02/20/01 08:32 PM
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I have found my admiration for Thoreau limited by fact that he wanted the benefits of government (e.g. to keep Indians from lifting his scalp) without being willing to pay his dues.


#18822 02/20/01 09:19 PM
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Party registration
The answer to the questions about registration is that the process and rules are different in the various states. Yes, I know that to outlanders it is incredible that the rules are not uniform nationally, but you have to remember that the United States of America is, as the name implies, first and foremost a union of states each and all of which have certain sovereign rights and privileges, among which are those pertaining to elections. I suppose by now everyone knows that there is no uniform ballot used nationally, or even for that matter within states -- each local jurisdiction is in charge and does its own thing.

Anyway, the way it goes in Maryland is approximately the way it goes in most places, in general, although there may be differences in the details. When you take up residence in a new election district, or when you attain the minimum voting age (18), you must register to be allowed to vote. This is generally done with the burocracy which runs elections; here it's called the Board of Election Supervisors, and there is an office in each county seat. You have to go there, show proof of age and citizenship (via a birth certificate, and a naturalization certificate if you are foreign born) and fill out some forms and you receive a voter's card which shows you are registered and tells you where to go to vote. You also declare a party, or independent. There is a deadline to be met. This may be as long as several months before the next election, or as short as the same day as the election, depending on local law. Last year, in order to increase voter registration, Maryland adopted a new policy that allows citizens to register at the Dept. of Motor Vehicles when they go there to renew their drivers license, on the excellent theory that since practically everybody goes to the DMV every few years, they can kill two birds with one stone. This has greatly increased the level of registration, as lots of people just didn't go to the trouble of going to the Elections Board. When you go to the polls to vote, the elections judges have a copy of the voter roll for that precinct and they check you off on the list when you report to them (so you don't vote twice). If you want to change parties or correct something else, you do it then and there, as they are empowered to make the change.

There is no compulsion to vote. Elections are nearly always on Tuesdays and the law requires that employers must allow employees 2 hours off to vote. The hours are usually 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Primary elections (those to choose the candidates of the various parties) are usually a month before the general election. I don't know what they do in other states, but in Maryland, the elections judges have a record of who voted in each election. If you fail to vote in a certain number of elections (I think 5 successive general elections) you are dropped from the election rolls (I believe on the presumption that you are dead) and would have to re-register if you wanted to vote.


#18823 02/20/01 09:48 PM
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>This is a wonderfully old word, with serious history...

Funny, it doesn't make it into "Atomica" and Canada is only next door:
rid·ing1 (rî'dĭng)
n.
The act of riding.
Horseback riding.

In Yorkshire (NE England), before re-orgnasation of boundaries there were three ridings "North", "West" "East" as any fan of the Bronte sister will know. Riding meant third, as far as I am aware which why the county described in Winnifred Holtby's book was an invention.


#18824 02/20/01 09:52 PM
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>yet attempt to compel its citizens, under threat of sanction, to vote? Australia does this, and it bewilders me

Maybe I've posted this before (or even worse, someone else), if so, excuse me.

I was told that the Northern Territories have never become a state, so do not have seats in parliament, yet those who live there are "obliged" to vote. What do they do with the votes?



#18825 02/20/01 09:56 PM
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I can't help thinking it is another old-fashioned and profoundly un-democratic principle to have to declare a nominal allegiance prior even to voting. But there again, I am a serf in a neo-feudal kingdom, so what do I know?!

Maverick, I'm not aware of anything that would stop anyone in the UK joining all the parties and then voting in a leadership contest. (Oh, I forgot, the Tories don't let their members join in the voting, only the MPs can vote - that's their idea of democracy!)


#18826 02/20/01 10:22 PM
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In this state, as in most states, an independent can not vote in a primary election.
----------------------------------------------------------
If you are an Independent you can vote in the Primary . A Primary is where and when candidates for election are selected from among those who declare they want the jobs.
HOWEVER, as you enter the polls and are checked off the registered voters list and approach the place where ballots are handed out, you must state a party preference and you are given the Primary ballot for that party.
Because I was in the news biz I always registered Independent.
When I first voted in Primaries I would ask for the party's ballot that I wanted.
Then, I would immediately write a letter to the Supervisors of the Checklist (as required by statute) and request my return to Independent status. So I was an Independent again when I voted in regular election where everyone gets the same ballots... federal and state and local.
These days, in New Hampshire, you can ask to be returned to Independant status as you exit the polls.
I found the same forms of those rules true in California and Hawaii.

"Live free or die"
wow




#18827 02/21/01 10:26 AM
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Fortunately for me, the democracy I live in does allow its citizens to choose for themselves whether they wish to participate in the democratic process or not

But Max, we are legally compelled to register to vote. It's just never enforced. Not a great deal of difference, really.

Many years ago now, Blue Kennedy, longtime secretary of the Meat Workers Union, a very powerful union in Zild until the early 1980s, addressed a meeting at the Burnside Freezing Works (Meat Packers to Yanks) and said, "This is a democracy, and so we're all going to stay here and keep voting until we get a majority supporting strike action."

Doncha just love democracy?



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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