Mailing it in to Save a Few Bucks (At Our Democracy's Expense)

Obviously Governor Spitzer's adventures are keeping the media machine busy at the moment, but as it appears there is a ton of information to sort out, I'll refrain from comment until a later time.

What I'd like to make a note of is the increasing support of a mail in re-do of the Florida and Michigan primaries, which absolutely horrifies me. Let's examine the situation step by step:

1) Florida and Michigan moved up their primary dates without the consent of the National Party so they could spend more time in the limelight (bad on the state's end)

2) The DNC told the states last year that this would result in the delegates not counting (bad to not count votes, but they needed to sanction them somehow and try to convince the states to get back in line, so maybe unavoidable)

3) The states declared they didn't care and were going to do what they wanted. To me, this is the biggest issue. Threatened with the votes not counting, what did the Floridian politicians do to save the people they now care about so much? Nothing. They grumped and whined and left it as is, and now everyone has to suffer for it. I really find the states at fault on this one.

That all being said, everyone's vote should count, especially in such a close election (Florida and Michigan wound up winning this round as - surprise - moving the dates up didn't get too much attention until the votes could decide the race, which they could have done at a later date anyway). However, Obama shouldn't be punished for obeying the DNC rules and not campaigning or being on the ballot, and Clinton shouldn't be able to seat these delegates and ignore the set rules. So obviously, something needs to be done.

And the best thing we can come up with is a mail in ballot?

The state governments are complaining that to re-do the primaries in both states would cost a combined $25 million, something they don't think the taxpayers should have to pay for. Great, I'm all for saving the taxpayers money, but all of a sudden this 25 mil is a big issue? We, as taxpayers, get screwed out of a lot more than that on a regular basis. Stadiums for billionaires, pork barrel legislation, increased wages for representatives, pandering to the corporate coalition - we're CONSTANTLY paying taxes for things that we shouldn't be. And now, when it's the vote of the people that matter, we're refusing to shell out a few bucks? In the grand scheme of things, we're dealing with a huge election here, counting votes that could change the nation, and we're squabbling over a few million dollars when we're spending 12 billion a month in Iraq? Heck, in Oklahoma City, the residents approved a one cent sales tax to raise money for stadium upgrades to lure an NBA team. I'd certainly pay a cent to have my vote counted.

But no, to save a few dollars, let's do it by mail. Let's set something up that is ridiculously easy to tamper with. Let's have people filling out someone else's ballot in the comfort of their own kitchen because they can't read the fine print, or hell, are at work when the form arrives in the hands of a spouse with opposing viewpoints. Let's have an election where mail carriers in certain areas with certain ideologies might find a few bucks if they accidentally drop come letters down the sewer. I just see this as a horrible regression back to times when election fraud ran rampant, and it provides an easy out for whichever candidate loses, since they can claim it on tainted votes and an incomplete way of doing things. I'll be honest, I'm sure I'm missing some details that could show how this works, and maybe there is indeed some method that makes this whole idea viable, but I can't even believe this is a discussion. We don't trust any electronic or computer based solution, so mail is our best option? If I'm being obtuse about this, please let me know.

I can see this being a huge disaster, and I'm hoping that a better solution comes along. Maybe, as my professor Paul Levinson suggested, someone with some money to spare could save us all. We could only hope.