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The Vote is in the Mail
Today I will stop by the post box at my local post office and drop off my absentee ballot for the Washington State Primary. This is the first time that I have use the absentee ballot and I plan on using it every election until the day that I die.
The very name is not really accurate. I am going to be in my district on September 14th and I will be in my district on November 2nd but I would rather have my ballot mailed to me, have as much time as I require to make my choices, consult with the voter's information pamphlet and the internet and then mail it back to the County Auditor's office so that it will be counted on the day of the election. I think that it should be called Vote By Mail instead of "absentee voting" because I am not going anywhere.
This technology of a postal system has been around since the founding of our republic and I trust it more than the electronic voting system. I am a nerd and have been using computers since before I knew how to write cursive so you think that I would be all for making our elections digital but the more that I know about said digital systems the less that I trust it. There is just to many variables and chance for corruption to trust the current generation of digital voting systems. Perhaps we will see secure systems with transparency and an auditable paper trail by 2006 or 2008 but there is no way that I would trust them this year. I met my county auditor at the county fair last Sunday and I brought up my educated distrust of the current digital systems. She told me not to worry because my district does not have the money to afford them. The Vote By Mail system is cheaper for the county and if I want to I can call them up and make sure that my ballot is on file and recorded.
I have been pushing Vote By Mail to all that I register to vote especially those who have never voted before or say that they do not have the time. It is easier to vote by mail than it is to apply for a credit card. Hell our neighbors to the south down in Oregon got rid of their polling places and the entire damn state went over to mail in voting. Then again they did give us Tonya Harding and BBQ.
This is the first Primary Election where you have to declare a party in Washington State and stick to voting for that party in the primary. You are free to vote across party lines on the main election but I don't think I will have a reason to do that. I am not a big fan of the partisan primary and I doubt it will be around for much longer. I made a deal with my girlfriend about the Gubernational candidate for our party in exchange for her solidarity with the party's candidate in November regardless about who it is. Oh and I voted for Deborah Senn over Mark Sidran because I thought he really screwed up the Seattle WTO situation in 1999. I think that the guys who challenge a sitting Senator for the party nomination so they can get their soap box and fifteen minutes of fame are assholes and idiots. Alas I could not vote for my friend the Washington Libertarian Candidate for Secretary of State. I am bummed out that Krist Novoselic formerly of Nirvana did not run for Lieutenant Governor. When there are uncontested seats in the main election I will usually write in Bill Nye The Science Guy as the Write in candidate.
So I did my patriotic duty with a number 2 pencil at my kitchen table while eating a nice crisp pickle.
Jake at September 1, 2004 
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Comments
Posted by: Pete at September 1, 2004 10:02 PM
Well Jake if you think that vote-by-mail is such a panacea you should read this
Posted by: weyoun at September 2, 2004 12:05 AM
Well Weyoun that is not what the EFF thinks
http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting/
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 2, 2004 11:34 AM
Don't forget Oregon also brought us Bob Packwood.
Posted by: BBQ at September 2, 2004 3:35 PM
Ah yes. Senator Randy Bob and his wandering tounge.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 3, 2004 11:12 AM
" I am a nerd and have been using computers since before I knew how to write cursive so you think that I would be all for making our elections digital but the more that I know about said digital systems the less that I trust it. There is just to many variables and chance for corruption to trust the current generation of digital voting systems."
You're right, electronic voting is easily corruptible, just look at the stolen election in Venezuala.
Posted by: weyoun at September 6, 2004 2:46 PM
Actually the UN monitored and verified the re-call election in Venezuela.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 6, 2004 6:22 PM
The U.N. is part of the axis of evil! They can't be trusted! Those Venezualians should have gotten someone fair and impartial like Jeb and George W.
Posted by: BBQ at September 7, 2004 1:12 AM
"Actually the UN monitored and verified the re-call election in Venezuela."
Actually it was the ultra-partisan Jimmy Carter's center that observed the election.
But you have to ask yourself several questions:
1. Why did the exit polling show 58% for recall while the "official" vote showed 59% against? (and remember the very reliable exit polling was done by many firms that have an impecible international reputation for objectivity)
2. Why, in different districts with radically different population numbers, where there vote totals of exactly 500 yes and radically different no vote totals?
3. Why were the counts and recounts done in secret?
4. Why no paper trail? Why did no one but Chavez's lieutenants have access to the voting software.
5. Why were armed groups of Chavestaz standing in the polling places (try voting against a dictator when you have a fully automatic rifle pointed at your head)
No, to any objective observer the vote was stolen.
Posted by: weyoun at September 7, 2004 10:00 PM
Your just pissed that the Neo Con dream of toppeling Chavez fell through.
Bush supporters have no right to talk about a stolen election. This election had more transperancy and accountability than Florida in 2000.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 7, 2004 10:43 PM
Actually Jake,
My concern arises from the fact that many of the professionals that I know are Venezuelan and are horribly distraught over Chavez tossing the economy into the dustbin. I am also concerned that the racist rhetoric that Chavez is employing (i.e. the "white" European Venezuelans are rich and evil and responsible for all the problems of the country) is very similar to that of Adolf Hitler.
BTW, of the 15 Venezuelans who I know, not one makes over $80K even though they are labeled "rich" by the Chavezistas
Posted by: weyoun at September 7, 2004 11:01 PM
You are just pissed off that a Democratically elected left wing politician is standing up to the oil hungry multinational and the neo con Bush State department.
I don't think that any Bush supporter has the right to lecture about fascism.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 8, 2004 11:08 AM
I got a little excited when I read this post - I love the idea of voting by mail, so I checked it out for Texas. Unfortunately, in Texas, you have to fall under the following criteria to be able to vote by mail:
1) 65 or older
2) Disabled
3) Confinement in Jail
4) Expected absence from the country
Now I'm sure that they don't really check these things, but I'm stil paranoid about putting something that is not truthful on a state form.
For some reason, it seems that you're more eligible to vote by mail if you're in jail than if you are too lazy to go to the polling location.
Damn my stupid state!
Posted by: pellinore at September 8, 2004 2:00 PM
In Washington anyone who can vote can vote by mail and it is encouraged by the state.
Well that sucks. You should take it up with the Texas Secretary of State Geoffery S Conner.
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/
Of course I have a hard time with any state that elected George W Bush to Governor twice.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at September 8, 2004 6:10 PM
