Dear Log,
«Quelle blague! I went into the booth, where supposedly I was going to read the ballot and
choose my candidate for the supreme soviet - "choose" means you have a choice. There was just
one name, already marked. I burst out laughing uncontrollably, right there in the booth, just like
a child. It took me a long time to compose myself. I leave the booth, and here comes [her husband] Yury,
stony-faced. I lifted my collar and ducked down into it so that only my eyes were visible; it was
just hilarious.»--Lyubov Vasilievna Shaporin commenting on the 1937 election in Russia, quoted in
Martin Amis's Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million by Martin Amis
Yow! Did I forget to ROCK THE VOTE?
California
In California, with incumbent "Democrats" running for the important positions, a
voter has very little practical power as an individual. I mean, Gray Davis won
80% of the primary vote. And he is awful! Of course, I voted for someone else
in the primary, but that had no effect. And however I vote in the main
election, Davis will win anyway.
We need some sort of
instant runoff election system, with
instant recall to keep power decentralized. These would be greatly aided by computerized
voting -- but the only way I can see to make it hard to cheat would be to have
public ballots, instead of secret ones. I haven't actually heard anyone yet give
a good reason *why* secret ballots are important.
