Posted on 06/07/2010 8:02:25 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
If you don't like crowds and prefer the decibel level of a monastery, we've got a spot for you to spend Election Day today:
Your local polling place.
"It's going to be pretty quiet there,'' said David Tom, San Mateo County's elections manager.
There are two main reasons: More and more people every year are casting their ballots by mail. And at the same time, an antiquated California law requires counties to staff polling places as if that weren't the case.
The state has decreed that each polling precinct should have no more than 1,000 voters. And even if a huge percentage of people in a given precinct have signed up to become permanent mail-in voters, election officials still have to staff the polling place as if there were 1,000 potential voters — rather than, say, only 300 who might actually turn up in person.
A minimum of four workers, who each make between $100 and $150 per day, are required at each polling place, Tom said.
Since 2005, election officials have tried to push a bill through the Legislature allowing for the new reality that millions of Californians vote by mail. But the bill failed because both Republicans and Democrats opposed it, for different reasons.
Many Democrats opposed the bill — sponsored by Democratic Sen. Debra Bowen, now California's secretary of state — because they believed it would make it less convenient to vote and cut down on the number of Democrats doing so.
Republicans objected because they thought it would encourage even more mail-in voting; many in the GOP believe that gives an advantage to the Democrats, who have a reputation for not going to the polls in person as much as Republican voters.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Earth to Base, Earth to Base..
Seize the moment!
Send the message for all to see
No more business as usual!
Go Chuck!
Giddyup!
Never ever cast a ballot by mail and I mean never ever
In Washington State that is our only option...
Then Washington is a lost cause
Why do the Democrats not go to the polls in person as much as Republican voters? Why did the Democrats pass the Motor-Voter law?
Going to the polls on Election Day is a rewarding experience and one I don’t want to miss.
Yep.
The first year I was a precinct inspector, we had a total of 25 come in to fill out a ballot within the 13 hours we were open. More people came in to drop off their mail ballot than to vote there. T’was truly boring.
I believe the low turnout will give Devore a chance. I think there are more diehard votes for Devore than the others.
My voting place is in a Mosque, yuck
Sometimes voter apathy can be a good thing especially if it supresses the idiot voters among us who vote ‘Rat!
We are in a mail ballot only precinct which means we have no choice other than driving miles into town during a specific period prior to the election to vote at the registrar’s office, or mail it.
One of the negatives of living in the sticks, but we’ll live with it.
I wish they’d do away with absentee voting except for verified cases of illness or business out of town. Just too much opportunity for cheating.
More important than low turnout is name ID; it is all-important everywhere, and will help McPain in AZ too.
A candidate that the people of CA will soundly repudiate as they have so many good candidates in years past. They are a predictable populace there.
Carry bacon.
Well its about time!!! Whereya been??
I was spending too much time around here so I quit — cold turkey — for a while, anyway.
Couldn’t help but check in on election-eve.
GO CHUCK GO!!!!
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