Do you know how many illegal votes were cast in the recently completed vote-by-mail primary election in the city of Tucson? Well, neither does anybody connected with the city of Tucson. And you know what else? They apparently don’t care, because voting by mail saves money!
Local right-wing radio talk-show host Jon Justice and I probably agree on .0001 percent of all political topics, but I have to commend him for his editorial on the TV news the other night. Voting by mail is an abomination. It invites 8 million different types of voter fraud, and even if nobody used the system to cheat, it would still be an abomination.
I remember when I was a kid, and I’d go along with my parents when they would vote. I couldn’t wait to vote on my own. (My first vote ever was for George McGovern for president, and, according to the e-mail I get, I’ve been voting wrong ever since.) I, in turn, took my kids. (Darlene was a couple of weeks old the first time she accompanied me.) There is nothing like the feeling of standing in a long line and waiting to vote, knowing that people gave their lives so that others could exercise their right to shape their country’s destiny.
I don’t even care if I’m standing in a long line where everybody else is Republican. It’s a long line of people who care enough to drag their sorry butts to the polling place and vote. But the people who run Tucson don’t agree with that. They want to cut corners, save a few bucks and piss on the ideal of voting as something that is sacred (in a nonsecular way).
In all seriousness, just about every American has somebody in their family or knows somebody who was injured or killed fighting in a war. Is this how we’re going to honor their sacrifice—by making it easier to slack, easier to vote, easier to cheat? I absolutely don’t understand the thought processes that allow someone to convince themselves that voting by mail is a good idea.
Mailing out ballots has reduced voting to something of a chore. Let me see … today, I’ll sit at the kitchen table, clip some coupons, read the comics, pay some bills and, oh yeah, I guess I’ll vote … although I could vote tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that. I just hope I remember to vote before the deadline. Plus, I have to walk all the way to my mailbox to vote. I wonder if it’s worth the effort.
I don’t know and I don’t care if it increases voter “turnout.” First of all, people have got to stop using the word “turnout.” Nobody turns out; they stay in. You’d actually have to wince if you used the word “participation.” If more people vote because they can do it at home, that’s actually sad. And you know where this is headed, right?
Yes, vote by computer. If you think that’s crazy, that’s the exact same word you would have used 25 years ago if someone had suggested running a citywide election by mail.
Just imagine when they try to sell that. This won’t cost the taxpayers anything, not even for paper or printing or postage. And we’ll use the same software that Taco Bell uses when they give away trips to Cancun or wherever. But instead of limiting you to just one entry per day, we’ll program it so you only get one entry, period. We promise.
Having said all of that, I would like to announce that I am considering applying for the recently vacated position of Tucson city manager. Maybe I can use the position to convince those people of the wrongheadedness of democracy on the cheap.
First of all, I must say that Mike Letcher’s resignation, effective 12 months from now, was a brilliant gambit. Well-played, sir! The fact that the City Council members didn’t go for it just shows their collective lack of imagination.
Heck, I might use that approach myself. If I ever get wind that my editor here is getting tired of having to apologize for my column all the time, I might call him and say, “You know what? I quit. In 2022. That gives you time to plan accordingly. You’re welcome.”
The city-manager thing wouldn’t be a bad gig. You show up to meetings and take a bunch of crap from a bunch of people who somehow got elected. Then you eventually get fired, at which time you get a nice severance package and a fat pension. They wouldn’t even need to pay me $200,000 like they did Letcher. I’d do it for half that amount, and they could use the money they saved to run real, American-type elections.
Actually, there’s more to being a city manager than being a punching bag. I did some research, and I learned that there are three main responsibilities:
1. Keep Karin Uhlich’s car clean and gassed up at all times.
2. Translate Regina Romero’s English into English. And:
3. Hide from Steve Kozachik whenever possible.
As for that Kozachik thing, I’ve already got that nailed. If he comes looking for me, and I’m not in my office, I’d have a built-in excuse. I’d just say, “I went home. I had to vote.”
This article appears in Sep 15-21, 2011.
Could someone please check the weather report for Hades? The temperature there must have fallen to below zero since I find myself in agreement with Mr. Danehy.
Mr. Danehy,
We seldom are in SUCH agreement but today you NAILED it! Thanks.
I always voted but I also felt exasperated by the elderly volunteers who got confused, couldn’t find the correct names, and generally slowed down the process to a crawl. I really like the vote by mail system. Voter fraud issues can be addressed with the registration process. This is Tom’s second article on this issue. He seems to be recycling old topics.
Tom, you state it very well when you point out that voting should not be made ‘easy’ for those in charge. In fact this should be the first thing on the list of what should be very hard for those in charge to implement. When voting is done out of the view of the public it will always inevitably lead to fraud. The fraud may not be the outright denial of someone voting but it does start the slippery slope of those in charge deciding that the ballot that can’t be easy to read isn’t worth counting, or the application for voter ID isn’t understandable so we won’t bother finding out what the problem is, etc… When the citizen becomes the servant of the government and subject to their interpretation of the rules, it is the citizen that is no longer the master. Our founders insisted that the relationship always favor the citizen over the state. When we forget that and allow the bureaucracy to make the rules for their convenience they will forever be our masters. Welcome to their Brave New World.
So does everyone then object to Sahuarita and Oro Valley’s election process too, which is vote by mail and has been done for the past ten years?
Oh wait, no!
The four previous posts are by rightwing teaparty packing Republicans.
Tom, if you had been doing your job as a journalist low these past three decades, you wouldn’t have had less than 9% of the people voting.
Also, the early voting was done by the Arizona Legislature and this approach is to deal with it. Who approved early voting, the Republicans.
More than 65% vote early already Tom. Gee, a fact, something you never report.
It is time that you come out the closet and admit you are a right wing conservative.
For those in charge Cactus Bill?
Wait, that is the registered voters in Tucson, Sahuarita, Oro Valley and Pima County.
Hey without vote by mail, you wouldn’t have Rick “I didn’t support Rio Nuevo until I was named on the Board with my three DUI’s” Grinell. One n, two l’s
Why do I agree with Mr. Danehy a progressive so often? Oh yeah eureka!!!! He’s rational inlieu of emotional. Steve is the perfect concervative. The (insert your party affiliation here) hate him because he tells the truth and if you don’t listen he says it louder………….
Voter fraud has been shown to be virtually non-existent in the U.S., in study after study, no matter what the voting procedure. Wholesale election fraud is another matter, as is widely selected voter suppression. Examples of wholesale election theft abound, with the 2000 presidential election the perhaps the most painful example. Voter suppression (limiting voter “participation,” by any means necessary) has been a primary electoral tactic for Republicans the last 75 years, because high voter participation usually translates into Democratic victories.
It’s funny that Danehy feels reassured by standing in line to vote, in the flesh, when the vote-counting process itself is so easily corruptible, especially when the voting machines of Diebold and others are involved. Voting by mail at least provides a paper trail, which can be closely examined and vetted for all kinds of fraud. And yes, if it increases “participation” then the process is that much more democratic (note the small “d”), which is supposed to be one of our nations highest ideals, for which so many have “fought and died”- although I hate to wave the bloody shirt in this context.
Danehy is right to be filled with angst about the integrity of our elections but he is barking up the wrong tree here, as he does so often with his strange admixture of liberal and arch-conservative inclinations.
“Vendetta” has it wrong with his belief in the mythology of leftist voter suppression in 2000. Yes, many voters in Florida made claims of suppression (police, police dogs), but strangely no one ever produced video/picture evidence of that. Some voters were incorrectly removed from voting lists due to their names being the same as recently deceased, but nothing statistically significant. There is video evidence of White voter suppression involving the “new” (& improved?) Black Panthers in Philadelphia in 2008, in which the very corrupt Eric Holder declined to prosecute and IG Christian Adams resigned over it. As it were, the article is discussing voting in TUCSON & PIMA COUNTY. How about we limit the discussion to that?
95+% Pima County election voting machines (the ones used in person) do indeed leave a paper trail. The processing of vote counting in our county has a strict process of oversight by members of several political parties (if they so wish to). Also, a sampling of the machines is performed with volunteers from several parties counting the ballots and comparing it to the paper outcome. “Vendetta” needs to call Pima County Elections and his local party folks and volunteer for oversight instead of spreading his arch-leftist propaganda regarding voter suppression.
“Jumper” is thoroughly propagandized (too much Fox News and hate wing radio?) and just as ignorant about the truth when it comes to voter suppression in the 2000 Florida election, which was orchestrated by Karl Rove, et al, and implemented by Florida Secretary of State, Katherine Harris. Tens of thousands of legitimate voters were eliminated from the roles through the processes of purging and caging, based upon common African-American and Latino surnames, and similarities to the names of ex-felons who were disenfranchised.
Your “video” about “New Black Panthers” supposedly “suppressing (sic) fearful White voters” in Philadelphia (intimidation would be the proper term, if it were true) was a Brietbart/ James O’Keefe style fraud. I’m constantly amazed by the number of people who fall for this kind of amateurish, racist fear- and hate-mongering.
For an excellent treatment of the Republican theft of the 2000 Florida election, and with it the White House (voter suppression was only one of many tactics used- voter intimidation was another) see the excellent documentary film, Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002).
… and “Jumper”… you dont have to be a leftist to see the truth… but it helps.
“I went home. I had to vote.”
Great ending. You got me laughing as usual.
tom a journalist? bwahahahahaha
I didn’t say it, Tom. On the money did. However, ……..
Being able to sit at home and research names and issues on the internet while marking the ballot is much better than bringing a crib sheet to a polling place. I make better, more informed decisions at home with available time and resources than at the local school I have to rent and fill with volunteers for a day so I get the luxury voting only when the city says “jump” (But never on a weekend or holiday when I can actually make time to do it). Giving my ballot to my mailman is much better than giving it to some stranger who “volunteers” to handle my ballot. Those ballot boxes disappear all the time. I wonder how many wind up at the landfill each election because some volunteer left one under a table or in a back room somewhere and when they discover it, simply discard the ballots. I would rather that the US Postal Inspection Service be in charge of making sure the ballots get delivered and returned instead of the under staffed, underpaid election commission. All these benefits from mail in ballots and we get to save box loads of money too. How’s that for a thought process Danehy? Here’s another thought for you, The vast majority of voters already vote by mail for the exact reasons I just mentioned. You want to spend all that money and resources to keep a polling place open in every precinct in the city just so you and the small minority of voters who actually still go to the polls can feel like your vote is somehow more “sacred” than a mail-in ballot. Less than 30 percent of all votes cast in our last election were dropped off at those polling places. That means 70 percent of the votes were mailed.Where’s all the voter fraud you claim will happen when everyone votes at home? Everybody already votes by mail, except for you and those tea baggers.
This scares me more than anything. I really feel like we American’s are loosing more and more of our rights every day and we are absolutely powerless to do anything about it. WHO THE heck thought this was a good idea? This is absolutely terrifying to me. Unless you are a so called super-citizen (IE a corporation) you can do whatever you want no liability. Direct access to your representatives. Both parties don’t care about actual citizens anymore. The courts are bought off, the police are bought off, the private prisons are bought off, the elected officials are bought off, the lobbyists are bought off, the private contractors are bought off – it’s one big happy love fest with OUR money.
Just trust them that they will count your vote.
Danehy’s ideal is a Norman Rockwell fantasy of a more perfect democracy that never existed. Voting percentages in America were pathetic before early voting and voting by mail were introduced, always favoring the Republican minority when the ballots were tallied.
Voting by mail is the one concession made to Arizona workers who otherwise are hard pressed to get to the polls. (Danehy like so many professional commentators is completely removed from the workers’ experience, the male equivalent of a stereotypical soccer mom. That comes loud and strong in column after column.)
Don’t worry, Tom, in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, and 20+ other states, Republican governors and legislatures are poised to kill early voting and mail-in voting. They understand as you do not that their continued takeover of the state machinery, ultimately leading to one-party rule at all levels, requires wiping one-person-one-vote.
Danehy’s false memories of a more perfect election process are becoming ever less relevant to the prevailing reality. The happy-face, “common sense” cynicism he promotes is toxic.
My advice to Tom is that he should fill out his ballot then head to the Post Office at noon or bout four p.m.; bypassing the mail box. He can then spend a nice long time waiting in line to cast his vote. Once at the counter ask to buy some I Voted stamps.
(yes, I know no stamps are needed to post the ballot)
“Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security.”
Ben Franklin
The whole point of vote by mail,, register by making an X, vote straight Dem ticket by any audible grunt, not requiring ID for any person or species was to make voting easier for Dems. They always knew Democrats were too lazy to register on a long form, and too uneducated to even make an X of audible grunt. Why complain now? What’s next. Just voting straight Dem ticket for anyone who doesn’t opt out of auto-Dem voting?