so now i’ve voted. i’ve done my civic duty, exercized my rights as a citizen, and cancelled out my boss’ vote.
tomorrow we’ll know who won the race, whether it was the robot made of wood or John Quincy Bush, and whether or not the buchanans and naders managed to spoil things for somebody. i hope the third parties stirred things up enough to piss somebody off, anyway. we need more of a real democratic system, where decisions are really Multiple Choice and not True or False. in any event, though, i personally hope that voter turnout is better this year than in presidential elections past.
for one thing, the internet has become a major issue, both in campaigning and in building platforms. four years ago, nobody worried too much about filtering out the porn so that our kids wouldn’t have to see it when they went to the public library trying to find bomb-making instructions. nobody gave too much time to taxing internet commerce
so, hopefully the geek vote will be a boost. for whom, i’m not sure.
but i’ll be the geek vote would really turn things up if we could vote over the internet. even if it were only absentee ballots (of which i’ve filled out a few, while my permanant address was in a different state than the one i attended school) or other special cases, being able to vote in our pyjamas over the internet would give a good shot in the arm of our democratic system. considering that voter turnout is lower in our country than in some where those going to vote risk being shot at, anything would help. hell, i heard on the radio this morning that some organizers were worried that turnout would be low in some crucial states due to rain across large parts of the country today. hell, we could even use the great leaps in voice mail technology and implement remote voting by telephone – to vote for.. Gore Leiberman.. press 1 now. To vote for.. Bush Cheney.. press 2 now. to hear a thirty-second recording by the candidates, making a last-ditch effort to get your vote, press the pound key – we entrust the phone bloops and bleeps with our credit card numbers, why not voter registrations, etc?
one thing we could do to up the odds would be to make election day a national holiday, so people wouldn’t feel bad about leaving work to vote. or hell, make election day a saturday.
where i live, people in some districts have been able to vote for the last couple of weeks, so there was no excuse not to get out of the house unless you were a shut-in or under house arrest or something.
so, if you didn’t vote, don’t bitch.