Voting...

My spouse and I were discussing the upcoming election. My spouse had lived earlier in Australia and advised me that during elections there, if a citizen was eligible to vote and did not vote, then that person was charged a fine. I don't know about everyone here but I like that idea...what a great way to facilitate keeping individuals involved and making every vote count!

 

I guess freedom here in the US also means you have the free will to not vote if you do not want to, without fear of being fined. But, if you don't vote, don't gripe about who won or who lost.

 

But in case you are not registered to vote, you can go right here:

http://www.sbe.state.va.us/VotRegServ/Forms/voterregistrationforms.htm

I also have some forms at my house, in case you just want to come by and pick one up drop me an email.

Marianne

 

I'm fairly certain the deadline for voter registration was 5pm on Monday, October 4th.

 

SarasMom, you're right.

Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

That is right, I just got back from my vacation in Germany so I forgot about the deadline.

Sure hope everyone registered. It is important to vote in any election, but this year even more so.

Marianne

 

In principle, maybe. But certainly not in practice, at least not for this election. Has anyone noticed the complete lack of local TV advertising by Bush/Kerry? It is because none of the states in our TV market are in play for this election. VA is a lock for Bush, MD and DC are a lock for Kerry.

 

well, if everyone except the opposition counts on that, it may not be so....

 

I wouldn't count on Bush being a lock anywhere....

 

The last time Virginia went Democratic in a presidential election was 1964, and it is safely Republican again this year. The Kerry campaign has all but closed its Virginia operations and moved staff to more competitve states like Ohio.

 

Kerry/Edwards still have my votes to stop mad cowboy disease

 

I will be out of town on voting day, so I went to the Voter Registration office the other day to vote (you can actually vote there rather than having to send in an absentee ballot by mail).
I was a bit surprised that I was able to vote without having my id checked. I filled out a form with name, address, social security number, and reason why I was going to be absent on voting day.
They then checked my name and SSN in the computer and handed me a ballot. No request to see any form of id.

 

You can thank Democrats for that. Currently only 11 states have some form of ID requirement for voting (and most limit the verification to the first time you vote and can never check after that). Attempts to pass legislation requiring voters to present a government ID (license, military ID, etc..) are immediately met with opposition from Democrats who call it "voter suppression" and "racial and economic discrimination". For example, when New Mexico attempted to pass a bill that would have required voters to provide photo ID prior to voting, state Rep. Max Coll, a Democrat, justified blocking a photo ID bill by calling it an effort "to suppress the vote of poorly educated people who don't understand exactly what they need to bring as ID or anything like that."

 

I don't see it as a lock anywhere. I wished the Democrats had done more here in Virginia, but I know many Republicans who told me that they "can't justify voting for Bush". One of them being my husband, who has been a republican all his life, but not this year. So there is hope, even for Virginia.

And I like the mad cowboy disease

Marianne

 

Boy I hope so....I can't take another four more years....[xx(]

 

For those interested in some bipartisan comedy, check this out:
http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/home/

Click on the "Good to be in DC" movie. From JibJab.com, the makers of "This Land is Your Land."

 

I went to this link and could not believe 35 minutes passed watching the hilarious videos! Thanks for sharing.

 

To the people saying that a vote in this election doesn't matter because Virginia will definitely go Bush, perhaps you should take a look at the latest polls of Virginia. The most recent was an Oct. 6 poll by Zogby which shows Bush 50%, Kerry 47%. That's called a "swing state".

Of course, if you support Bush, you're probably right. I definitely wouldn't bother to vote if I supported Bush, cause there's no way Virginia isn't going to go Republican.

--Joy

 

hehe, is that a trick to get republicans to not vote so the dems can potentially win? =)