If you live in California and you’re a registered voter: vote!
If you like the initiatives on the ballot, vote them in.
If you don’t like them, vote them out.
If you’re disgusted with the way the initiative process has been subverted by the very political machines and special interest groups it was supposed to circumvent, protest it by voting them down, not by abstaining.
OK, one more election-related post. This one comes from The Big Picture, and features links to various maps of election results. Comparisons of state vs. county maps, looks at which candidates were favored by people in other countries, comparisons to past elections and to pre-Civil War America… and of course the comedy (including the redistricted Jesusland and the United States of Canada).
Interestingly, it’s missing the county-by-county Purple America, though it does have a link to the state-by-state one.
Found via WebWord.
Veeery interesting! By now everyone’s seen maps colored in red/blue by state, which make the vote look very regional (the South and Midwest pull red, and the northeast, the West Coast, and the Great Lakes area pull blue). A map by county makes the country look extremely red, until you realize that many of the blue counties are the more populous ones, highlighting the fact that the split is primarily urban/rural.
A Princeton professor has taken the election results and produced a shaded map by county, with a full red-purple-blue continuum. Looking at this map, it’s clear we’re a lot more integrated than we think we are.
Hat tip: from a comment on peterdavid.net.
CNN: Lawmakers oppose election delay [archive.org].
Among the outcry is a resolution sponsored by Ohio Senator Bob Ney (a Republican, for the record) stating that “the actions of terrorists will never cause the date of any presidential election to be postponed” and “no single individual or agency should be given the authority to postpone the date of a presidential election.” There are about 60 supporters of the resolution, and another 190 representatives have slapped Homeland Security with a clue stick.
Thank you, Senator Ney.
Postponing elections is not something that should be done in a free society. The essence of democracy is that it is government with the explicit consent of the governed. Take away that consent — as in take away the ability to choose different leaders — and you no longer have democracy.
A loud clap of thunder sent half the office to the windows about 20 minutes ago, and prompted cries of “Save now!” That got me thinking. In theory, we’re supposed to have e-voting in today’s election. Are the voting machines on UPSes? If the polling place loses power, is there any kind of backup to (a) let people vote during the blackout, and (b) make sure none of the already-collected votes are lost?
Assuming the polling place does have power when I get there, I’ll have to ask.
