On 12/15/03 10:51 AM, "Terrell Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Steven Clift wrote: > >>> Minneapolis/Hennepin County should lead the way in 2005 by pushing >>> for state law changes to allow voting my mail in our next election >>> for mayor/city council. > > Michael Atherton responded: > >> I don't know if this is a good idea. I'm not sure that >> we should run our government the same way that we do >> warranty registration for washing machines. I think >> that it might increase the participation of those who >> have only marginal knowledge of the issues and the >> candidates and contribute to the tend of politics as >> a popularity contest. > > TB comments: > > However, we don't test voters to determine that they have appropriate > knowledge of the issues. > > In Washington State where voters can choose to permanently vote by > mail, that is have ballots automatically mailed to them for every > election, there were 1,035,392 registered voters in King County > (Seattle) as of October 4, 2003. 46% of those voters had chosen to > permanently vote by mail. Election officials were expecting 70% > turnout for this falls election among the mail voters versus an average > of 47% for an off year election. > > Is there any evidence that voters don't take their vote seriously? > Would, perhaps, receiving a ballot in the mail prompt someone to look > for information about the candidates and the issues on the ballot? > > I think that any way the we can increase the number of people with any > interest in elections and government is something that we should > pursue. I'm inclined to agree with Terrell. My grandmother has voted by mail-in absentee ballot for the past several years as her mobility became limited. Besides folks with limited mobility, I can think of a number of other reasons why we might further encourage mail-in balloting. - For the person who travels a lot due to their job or who is on-call a lot - For the person who works odd hours and so would likely sleeping or caring for children during regular voting hours - For the person who cannot stand to wait in line forever (or whose health prevents it) I think the argument that mail-in balloting will cause voters to slack off is silly. My guess is the opposite is true. When my grandmother's ballot arrives, she has me come over and look at it so I can help her figure out which candidates she wants to support. So I look at candidate web sites for her and we go over the voter guide and in cases where we vote for the same office, she asks my opinion. My great aunt was the same way before she passed on. If for some reason, absentee balloting were discontinued and my grandmother had to go back to waiting in line, my guess is she either would stop voting or if she did make the effort, she would feel rushed by the line of people behind her and only vote for the "big" offices and stop bothering with the various boards and such where a lot of the real work actually gets done. Or worse, she might just connect lines randomly for some races rather than turn in an incomplete ballot. Just like a lot of folks who show up at the voter booth probably do now. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
