the bigdumbHoosier Archive - 10.28.2000 and 11.5.2000
Mightier than a Machine?
Nov. 5, 2002
Updated update (this election thing just won't go away...) - Okay, it's Thursday and no end is in sight on the national presidential election as the nation's attention focuses on gators, Cubans, and bad ballot interface design [Edward Tufte is going to have fun with that one!].
The battle between pen and voting machine rages on too. As I reported yesterday, getting a paper ballot caused a little fuss at my local precinct, but they did in fact have them. They didn't have the ballot box set up, but when I asked about it, they pulled it out of a closet and set it up. And, I wasn't alone - 27 votes went Green in my thinly populated rural county. To see the results visit this South Bend Tribune story. Similarly, nearby (and very conservative) Marshall County tallied 139 Nader write-in votes. (GO)
Yesterday, LaPorte County results didn't show any Nader votes, but apparently this was caused by the unanticipated number of write-ins on paper ballots. Today's updated results show 327 votes cast for Nader (GO).
It warms the cockels of my techno-luddite heart to think of the hundreds of people throughout Indiana asking for "paper, not plastic". But mostly, the mainstream press has missed this story. Check out the Indianapolis Star's statewide results - they don't even mention Nader. My pen worked here in Hootersville, but the machine still rules in Nap-town, or so it seems.
Oct. 28, 2002
The pen is mightier than the sword, so it is said. But then, nowadays swords mostly turn up on the Antique Road Show. They bring some mighty hefty prices, but they don't count for much in the geopolitical scheme of things. Have pens faired better? Here in Indiana, it appears, the time may have arrived to find out if there's any magic left in my trusty old sword smitter.
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This time it's a quintessential techno-luddite struggle as the pen goes up against (not the gorey cut of a sword) but a hulking, grey and musty voting machine. You see, I'm going to try to write-in Ralph Nader for President.
It's not that I'd be unhappy if Al Gore won; I'd be pleased. A bit surprised too, alas. There's little doubt in my mind that a George W. Bush presidency will serve mainly to strengthen corporate interests in America. That means mere citizens lose. Sorry, it is that simple. They are not us. They do not care about us. I believe Al Gore when he says he'll fight for us. But Al Gore has no chance of winning here in Indiana.
I don't want to waste my vote. I want it to count. And when I hear Ralph Nader speak he begins to make me believe that he can, in fact, make the Green Party real. No, Nader can't win this time, but with four or five percent of the popular vote the Green party could be a real force next time. Especially here in the northern Midwest, where I sometimes think we have more in common with Canada than with Texas. Indiana is going to go for Bush, so a vote for Gore means nothing. A vote for Nader will help make the Green party a force. Now that's making your vote count.
Being Green wasn't easy for Kermit the Frog, and it won't be any easier for Hoosiers, bigandumb or otherwise. You see, Ralph Nader isn't on Indiana's ballot. But write-in votes are, theoretically at least, valid in Indiana. The trick is that you'll need to ask for a paper ballot first thing when you go to vote on Tuesday. And you absolutely must request it prior to going into the booth! After that, they won't give it to you, and they'll be right too. All this means it's not exactly a secret ballot - in the little town I live in it means everybody will probably end up knowing I'm a little green around the gills. But I suppose they suspected already.
We've checked with local election officials and have been assured that paper ballots will be available. We shall see.
For more about this subject check out a recent article in the South Bend Tribune, Paper ballots ready for voters.
