I early voted on Saturday at the Green Hills Library, and as I was leaving a man approached me. He looked out of place, like he was campaigning for some Green Party candidate. My initial response was to say, “I’ve already voted, sir.” Turns out he was a reporter for Slate.com, asking folks about their vote in the US Senate race. I explained my contrarian ways, he said that I was the “perfect Slate.com reader.” Here’s how I was quoted:
On the other hand, Tim Morgan, a 30-year-old architect, says he wants the Democrats to take over the Senate. Even though “Ford is depending on me to vote for him,” Morgan says, he can’t pull the trigger–he thinks Ford’s family history is shady, and he finds him a little too packaged. He voted for Corker.
Yes, I know that’s a passive aggressive way to vote. My problem with Ford is that you don’t get elected to Congress at 26 without some sort of special circumstances in place, and the current shenanigans in the 9th district House Race show that those special circumstances are still in play. Of course, Corker was the only Republican that I would have vote for, so at least from my perspective the Republicans made the correct choice. I still harbor a lot of resentment for Ed Bryant from the Clinton Impeachment, though I’m sure he’s a good guy. Coker’s a good guy, too, though it is hard for an architect to vote for a contractor. (And I actually voted for two contractors named Bob.) Chattanooga was already a great place to be before he was mayor, but the biggest reason for me to vote for him was his role in founding Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, a non-profit finance organization that provides low interest loans to promote home ownership in Chattanooga. I worked with this group in college, they are good folks.
For the record, I also voted for the Incumbent, the blogger, I skipped the House race (she’s unopposed), No, and No. I voted for the procedural Metro amendments, but against the property tax referendum.
Sort of related, but on my mind: One thing that bothers me about the new electronic voting machines is that when you enter the precinct you give your voter registration card to a person sitting at a computer. He then looks you up online, and prints out a paper that you sign, giving a paper record that you’ve voted in this election. Then you go over to the electronic, proprietary voting machine, choose your selections, and hit confirm. So there’s a paper record that you’ve voted, but not any paper record of who you voted for. I’m all in favor of the electronic voting to speed election returns, but without some sort physical auditable record of how the votes were cast, how can we know that the results are correct?
I muttered this to the guy at the computer, but he just ignored me.
Congratulations, Slate man!
I feel the same way about Ford (almost). Unlike a lot of white Memphians, I don’t really hate the Fords. They have almost always been good Democrats and doing what benefits constituents (and themselves at times, of course). But Jr. is so obviously in this for himself, for power. This race isn’t about service for him; it’s about getting himself to the white house or at least to some great parties.
You should see the clip from Real Time with Bill Maher from the other night if it’s out there. I’m so glad I got to see it.
Tim, I couldn´t agree with you more on electronic voting. I vote in Colorado now but I used to vote in Virginia. A group affiliated with Virginia Democrats has put forth a massive effort to have one lawyer stationed outside of each poling station in case voters are turned away, disenfranchised, etc. I talked with one of these guys after I electronic voted for the first time back in the 2005 governor´s election. I asked him if there was anyway that I could be sure my vote counted. He told me to vote absentee on a paper ballot. Go figure. My theory is this . . . if electronic voting is the direction we´re headed, there´s got to be more checks and balances. The voting machines need to print out 2 duplicate pieces of paper that show who you voted for. One copy comes out ATM style for the voter to keep. The duplicate copy drops into a box. At the end of the night, the duplicate paper copies are checked against the electronic tally. If the 2 don´t match up . . . well I guess the shit shoud hit the fan. I don´t have an answer if they don´t match up but at least we´d know if the machines are working.
That´s the simple version of the theory. Your thoughts??
Later, Lawton