Suffragatio
Suffragatio is latin for voting. To be fair it is one of five possibilities, the first being tribus,which is not bad but not naughty like suffragatio and let's be honest isn't this years election making you feel a little dirty?
Long lines and insuffient numbers of polling places in Arizona has led to some accusations of voter suppression, mostly out of stupidity and inefficiency. But the larger question is do we have a deliberate agenda in this country of trying to dissuade citizens from voting? The answer is yes but it's subtle. It is certainly not as bad as it was under our highly vaunted founding fathers and the younger generations which followed. Democracy? Sure, within certain guidelines. Like all that time you had to be white male protestant landowners or have a specific amount of money to your name. History's a bitch when you actually focus on it and the great men of it lose their luster and so they should.
We've come a long way baby but some would like to slow it down a bit. Let's be honest before we start boiling the politicians, Americans have a bad habit of not voting in very large numbers, still we need everyone we can get, depending on where you live and what you believe in.
Some States, mostly under Republican control have tried to get some people to skip the whole process by mucking up the registering process. Here in Indiana we led the way in being the first State to require that a picture I.D. be shown at the polling site. This was to eliminate fraud, which everyone in public administration in Indiana, including the Republicans that led the charge, admitted didn't exist. The wierd thing is the election laws were always set up so that polling officials could challenge for I.D. if something seemed awry. By codifing it into law it could be argued that it is a poll tax. Most people have a drivers license but for those that don't, getting a State issued I.D. could be a financial burden and if you are elderly tracking down all the bits of paper to prove who you are is often impossible.
What about switching election day from Tuesday to Saturday? It has some merit but a lot of people work on Saturday as well, the service industry doesn't close because it's the weekend. Sundays could face major religious objections, so good luck there. The individual must take the bull by the horn and protect his or her rights. Vote absentee if you feel a problem might prevent you from casting your vote on the big day. If you live in a State like mine the answer is clear, vote early. For weeks prior to the election we can cast our ballot at our own leisure and I do. By the time early voting starts I already know who I'm voting for. This year I have definitely already crunched the numbers, created a matrix and arrived at a decision based on highly likely variables. You may know who that is by employing Monsieur Auguste Dupin's process of ratio scenation but I shall neither confirm nor deny.
Find a way to vote and don't let anyone stand in your way. If you found this post a bit dry consider your subscription price. Also if you already know who Auguste Dupin was, pat yourself on the back. If you had to Google him you should also pat yourself on the back because you cared enough to find out and isn't that a wonderful thing?
Long lines and insuffient numbers of polling places in Arizona has led to some accusations of voter suppression, mostly out of stupidity and inefficiency. But the larger question is do we have a deliberate agenda in this country of trying to dissuade citizens from voting? The answer is yes but it's subtle. It is certainly not as bad as it was under our highly vaunted founding fathers and the younger generations which followed. Democracy? Sure, within certain guidelines. Like all that time you had to be white male protestant landowners or have a specific amount of money to your name. History's a bitch when you actually focus on it and the great men of it lose their luster and so they should.
We've come a long way baby but some would like to slow it down a bit. Let's be honest before we start boiling the politicians, Americans have a bad habit of not voting in very large numbers, still we need everyone we can get, depending on where you live and what you believe in.
Some States, mostly under Republican control have tried to get some people to skip the whole process by mucking up the registering process. Here in Indiana we led the way in being the first State to require that a picture I.D. be shown at the polling site. This was to eliminate fraud, which everyone in public administration in Indiana, including the Republicans that led the charge, admitted didn't exist. The wierd thing is the election laws were always set up so that polling officials could challenge for I.D. if something seemed awry. By codifing it into law it could be argued that it is a poll tax. Most people have a drivers license but for those that don't, getting a State issued I.D. could be a financial burden and if you are elderly tracking down all the bits of paper to prove who you are is often impossible.
What about switching election day from Tuesday to Saturday? It has some merit but a lot of people work on Saturday as well, the service industry doesn't close because it's the weekend. Sundays could face major religious objections, so good luck there. The individual must take the bull by the horn and protect his or her rights. Vote absentee if you feel a problem might prevent you from casting your vote on the big day. If you live in a State like mine the answer is clear, vote early. For weeks prior to the election we can cast our ballot at our own leisure and I do. By the time early voting starts I already know who I'm voting for. This year I have definitely already crunched the numbers, created a matrix and arrived at a decision based on highly likely variables. You may know who that is by employing Monsieur Auguste Dupin's process of ratio scenation but I shall neither confirm nor deny.
Find a way to vote and don't let anyone stand in your way. If you found this post a bit dry consider your subscription price. Also if you already know who Auguste Dupin was, pat yourself on the back. If you had to Google him you should also pat yourself on the back because you cared enough to find out and isn't that a wonderful thing?
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