Wednesday, November 1, 2000
Wednesday, November 1, 2000 |
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Election day preview By SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
Tis the season when editorial writers and columnists traditionally exhort readers to be sure to vote, and then tell you how. Ain,t gonna do that. Most of you would have no trouble figuring out my leanings, even without seeing my campaign button the one in Hebrew characters. What I want to do today is exhort you to: Study the ballot and make your decisions ahead of time. You might even fill it out and carry it with you that's allowed. Come to vote at a time of day that will inconvenience yourself and your employer least if you have to wait. And be gentle with the poll workers at your precinct as well as with elections office personnel. First item. When we went for the class required of poll managers recently, I was stunned to see that the ballot consists of three full columns on BOTH sides. I'm thinking, sure, president and vice-president, an interesting Senate race, an old friend being challenged for a county seat then I saw the ballot. In addition to the above, there are school board, County Commission, and juridical races (a new word for me), plus seven constitutional amendments, four statewide referenda, and the school bond election. (Fayetteville residents take note: You're still not done when you're done. You gotta go vote on liquor-by-the-drink.) Now, granted, 27 of these choices are labeled "Vote for one" and there is only one, but in a few cases, there are choices and you have to scan through to find them. And true, you don't HAVE to vote when there is only one, but I'd hate to see a post unfilled because NOBODY voted for an unopposed candidate. As to the amendments whew! I'm awaiting plain-English translations like the ones that should publish elsewhere in this paper. Some are easy: Do we want convicted felons in the General Assembly? Should judges have more experience practicing law? Should the Elks get ad valorem exemptions? But the one about compensation for public safety workers is the longest uninterrupted question I think I've ever seen, and all those indemnifications gave me the vapors. Help! The ladies in the county elections office warned us that an increase in registration and a surge of absentee voters point to a huge turn-out at the polls Nov. 7, spurred, undoubtedly by the presidential contest. There will be lines, there will be delays, and we who wield the ballpoint pens above the required legal forms will be doing our best. We've been sworn to neutrality (along with our vows of silence), so don't ask us which of the candidates is Republican and which Democrat in the nonpartisan Senatorial match. And don't ask us to explain the 13 names listed under each pair of candidates in the four presidential choices. They're electors, I recognize only a half-dozen or so names, and like it or not, you're actually voting for them to vote for your preferred candidates. (See Constitution, United States, Amendment 12 that should clear up everything nicely.) Now, perhaps I shouldn't dispel the notion that the long-suffering poll workers whose phalanx you must negotiate to get your ballot are volunteers. We are in fact paid, modestly, but enough to remove any hint of self-sacrifice. Be civil to us, if not actually pleasant, and I promise we will do our best to keep things moving. Civil or not, we will still do our best, and we apologize in advance for the inevitable snafus in this mammoth undertaking. The county will have deployed every voting booth it owns, but there will be times when they are filled with voters puzzling over questions they didn't study beforehand. People will be waiting. And no, you may not fill out your sample ballot against the shoulders of the voter in line ahead of you the law is clear that you must vote in privacy even if you'd rather sacrifice your secret ballot to expediency. You should also know this: Your employer must give you time off from work to vote, if necessitated by your hours up to two hours. So there you have it, my Election Day Lecture 2000. I wish I could tell you when's a good time to come to the polls, but we've long since given up trying to second-guess why voters come in when they do. It stands to reason that the lunch hour would be busy yet, perhaps anticipating that, often fewer voters come then than at other times of the day. Streamline things for us and for yourself. Have ID ready. Have either a cheat-sheet with you, or be very familiar with the ballot. If you have a legitimate reason to vote absentee, do it as soon as possible the elections office is swamped this year. And don't wait until 6:55 p.m. to come to the polls. It's true that if you're in line, even outside, by 7 o,clock, you get to vote, but if for whatever reason you are at the wrong polling place, you won't have time to drive to your correct precinct. I'm assuming you realize that you can't just go vote any-old-where, but only at your assigned precinct. Archaic, I agree the whole system is, in these days of secure Internet and telephone connections but it's the system we've got and we have to work within it. See you on Election Day.
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