Re: Reflections on an election

["Wayne H Beebe" <whbeebe@turbonet.com>]

Oregon has had success with vote by mail.  All registered voters get a
ballot by mail and they have to be returned by election day.

Another alternative is to change the voting to Sunday, but this would have
to take a constitutional change

Then there is "sampling"  (definately unconstitutional)

Then there is forcing people to vote--fining them $100 if they don't vote
(then people would not registrar)

Oregon's idea seems to be the best followed by Sunday voting.


----- Original Message -----
From: John and Laurie Danahy <JDANAHY@turbonet.com>
To: Vision2020 <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, November 05, 1999 9:16 AM
Subject: Reflections on an election


> The community of Moscow held an election that will provide the leadership
> for the community for the next several years.  Twenty one percent of
> registered voters turned out and expressed their opinions by casting
> ballots.  It is a sad note that in today's community, twenty one percent
of
> registered voters is considered a good turnout.
>
> Why is twenty one percent considered good?  Where are all those who speak
> out on issues?  Should we as a community address the need to get more of
our
> populace involved in the initial decision making process?
>
> Certainly it can be said that voting today is inconvenient.  The fair
> grounds, as a polling place, is hard to get to, hard to park at, and you
> never know who your going to have to talk to there.  Is it just a matter
of
> convenience, or is there a more fundamental reason why four out of every
> five residents is willing to let someone dictate the future to them?
>
> Perhaps the time has come, in this fast paced electronic age, to abandon
the
> polling place in favor of a different means of casting ballots.  Should we
> look to our elected leaders to try and fashion a more convenient method of
> voting, knowing that they were elected by such few numbers?
>
> John
>
> John and Laurie Danahy
> jdanahy@turbonet.com
>
>