From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Subject: Re: George Bush opposes democracy.
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 19:23:17 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.201815.16435@cl.cam.ac.uk> jb145@cl.cam.ac.uk (J. Boyan) writes:
...
>Why aren't people registered?   Some people don't want to be.  Millions
>and millions of people
>think that their votes make no difference.  Ironic, isn't it.  But
>forget about them for now:

Yes, forget about them.  If they don't want to participate in
the democratic process, let them sit down and shut up... :')

>let's talk about the millions more who do want to vote, but aren't
>registered.  People move and
>they forget to register; by the time the election draws near, it's too
>late for them!  And many
>have never registered in the first place.  Let's face it, for most
>people politics is not as
>much of a fun spectacle and a big deal as it is for us alt.politics
>readers.  They just forget.

Oh, the old Steve Martin line.  "I forgot!"

If all these folks who can't remember to register actually went
to the polls and voted, the pollsters would go crazy.
How many of them would just vote randomly, or vote for all
the "non-foreign" or "non-Jewish-sounding" names?

>18 year olds are either at college, often far from home (where they
>don't bother to request an

Yeah, the folks who should have the most interest in following politics
and voting, but won't be bothered...

>absentee ballot), or they're struggling at a difficult job during the
>day (if they're lucky),
>struggling to take care of their kids in the evenings, and partying
>drunkenly in whatever time
>is left over -- and the word "vote" never crosses their mind until
>election eve.  Shit, I
>forgot to register!  They say that to themselves every election day
>until they die!

And they never, ever learn.

>Remember that old cliche that government is for, by, and of the people? 
>From this it follows
>that a truly democratic government has every responsibility to make the
>voting procedure as
>accessible to everybody as it can.

Doesn't everybody have the same registration procedure to follow now?

 As I see it, Congress tried very
>much to accept this
>responsibility by passing the motor-voter bill.
>
>The motor-voter bill would have required every state to allow voters to
>register to vote at the
>same time they get their driver's licenses.  This is a brilliant and
>simple idea that would

Well, it's a simple idea, anyhow.  What is Sharp Electronic's slogan again?

>ensure that EVERY AMERICAN HAS A VISIBLE, EASY WAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE. 

Ironic choice of words.  Visible, easy way.  Read this one in the
newsletter of the Blind Driver's Organization, did you?
Or how about folks who simply don't drive, for whatever reason?  Or
those who physically can't drive anymore?  The last thing my grandmother
drove was a horse and buggy, around 1916.

...
>It's not often that a presidential action drives me to communicate in
>capital letters.  But

Or alternating long and short lines, for that matter.

>this time it does.  GEORGE BUSH, WHY DON'T YOU WANT PEOPLE TO VOTE?  IS
>IT BECAUSE YOU KNOW
>THAT IF AMERICA REALLY WAS A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, YOU AND YOUR
>MILLIONAIRE FRIENDS WOULD
>BE CHUCKED OUT ON YOUR CUMMERBUNDS?

chucked out on his belt?

In the parts of Illinois I've lived in, voter's registration drives have
been held at the local polling places, and publicized in local newspaper
ads, handbills, and mailings.  In addition to getting folks registered,
this has the additional benefit of getting them to know where the polling
place is in the first place.  (If the MoVo bill passed, how many people
do you think would show up at the drivers license facilities on election
day?  In spite of some campaign statements to the contrary, the average
guy on the street isn't really very intelligent.)  Where will the funding
for the additional staff required at license facilities come from?
And what about states that are downsizing their licensing facilities?
(E.g., in Illinois, some of the work of the license facilities are
being transferred to high schools, where most of the new license applicants
come from in the first place.)

I can't remember when I've been to a local festival, county fair, or whatever
where there wasn't a registration table being run by volunteers (e.g.,
from the League of Women Voters).  If you can't register the people when
they're out in leisure time, how do you expect to get them when they've been
standing in line for an hour waiting for the State's computer to come up
and wondering if they'll get fired for being late to work?


--
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com                                        Naperville, IL
'71 CL450-K4 "Gleep"  -   "Worth Reposession"
DoD #094,  PBF #03  "I'm not mad; just terribly, terribly hurt."  HDM #007
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