60 Days Until Election 2004 - Are You Ready?
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2004 11:53 PM
Today is 60 days until the election. Please register to vote if you have not. If you've registered before, but you think something's wrong with your registration or you're not really sure, go ahead and register again. Registration is required at least 15 days before the election and as many as 30 days before in some states. Declare Yourself has a nice voter information pamphlet (The Four Simple Steps of Voting) and booklet (Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Registering To Vote And Voting In The United States). It seems like a great non-partisan resource even if some of the people participating are clearly swayed one way or the other.

I also recommend applying for an absentee ballot, which you can do right now if you're already registered or as soon as your registration is confirmed, if you have yet to register. That is also often required as much as 30 days before the election. It's extremely convenient if you don't think you will be able to get to the polls on Election Day or you don't think you'll have enough time on November 2 to give voting the attention it deserves or you just don't want to drag your butt to the polls. I know I won't be able to get to the polls and because of work I'll generally have a tough time from this election on so I'm taking advantage of California's permanent absentee voter status option.

Emily sent a link to Venus' "Why Ya Votin? contest", but I was too busy to enter, so here's what I probably would have written about why I'll vote on November 2:

Because it actually matters. Yeah, I live in California so for president it doesn't matter. But there are statewide offices, House and Senate seats, and local offices up for grabs, not to mention state propositions (supplement) and local measures. These matter. Local government often affects your life far more directly than national government. That's an area where voter apathy really gets you if you don't mind the interests in your own backyard. Beyond that I want politicians to suck up to me and institute programs and measures that improve the lives of those in my demographic or at least acknowledge our interests. This was a little more important when I was in the precious 18-24 demographic, but even though I'm now in the bizarre, way too broad void of 25-44, it still matters.

In the last general election in November 2002 (midterm election, I know, see Table 1), 38.2% of 18-24 year olds were registered and an appalling 17.2% of the total 18-24 year old population voted. Who's gonna work hard for that? Of those aged 25-44, 55.4% were registered and 34.1% voted-better but not great. Over 75% of those 65 and older were registered and over 58% voted. In the 2000 presidential election (Table 1), a slightly better 45.4% were registered and 32.3% voted, but that's still kind of sad. Of 25-44 year olds, 54.7% were registered and 43.7% voted. Needless to say, the over 65 crowd had greater than 73% registration and over 64% voting—69.9% among those 65-74. Over 50% in every demographic in each category would probably be a tad more representative of the interests and opinions of the nation.

So older people vote. Younger people, not so much. Maybe some people have more time than others, but you know what? It's silly to complain if you haven't at least made the effort to have your voice heard. And it's even sillier when you are allowed to make an effort and you can do something. Why sit there and let other people's interests govern what happens to your money?

You know why politicians care so much about seniors? Maybe there's a little "I'm going to be there too one day," but really, it's that seniors vote and in such appreciable numbers that if they were not appealed to and paid attention to, they wouldn't vote for you. If you don't care about Social Security, Medicare, and the rising cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, you're not running for Congress. If 18-24 year olds voted the way people over 65 did, some discussions would be different. I want everyone's issues to be important. I want elected officials to care about the issues of my generation. For example, I'd like Social Security fixed or replaced with something viable and rational so that something's there when I need it. I am paying into it right now, so that's only fair. It's not in my interest to have it crap out in 15 years. That's why I'm voting.

That's where the essay would end, a few hundred words too long. But I have to acknowledge how hard voting is too.

In a perfect universe, everyone would have time to evaluate every issue, every candidate, every measure, every initiative, but very few people do. So what do you do? The statements in the voter information guide can be so contradictory as to be confusing so that's not much of a shortcut. Ads are all spin and half-truths or just negative. So where to go? My solution, which is not very helpful, is to just always be at least a little engaged and make time to learn before you vote. And, this kills me as a nerdy, civic duty and privilege loving fool, there's no law (as far as I know-I've never actually looked into this) that you have to vote for every category on the ballot. If there are 30 things, and our monstrous California ballots get that way, and you know you reasonably can have a position on only 20 of them, leave the other ten blank. It's not the best solution, but . . . it's better to vote on 20 than none, right?

Maybe not. I don't know.

Just register and vote.

And some links that I find helpful:

Annenberg Political Fact Check
The Daily Show (more the show than the site, I suppose—calling everybody on their crap and fostering intelligent discussions)
League of Women Voters
League of Women Voters California Smart Voter
My Vote Counts (California)
Slate: Campaign 2004 (leaning left, but with plenty of moderate and right voices-great convention coverage for both parties, Swingers series on swing states is excellent as well)

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Election 2004

comments? e-mail me.