Originally Posted By Ursula I will not be in town for Election day so I completed and mailed my ballot today. It was fun. I always vote, but this time it was different. I actually cared to the extent of reading each ballot measure and cross-checking the pro people and the con people. The most interesting one to me was California's gay marriage prop and the animal rights prop. For animal rights, it seems humane to me to make sure that animals can actually move and stretch out. But it seems the egg producers are against this. Besides the Presidency, what Propositions are of interest on your ballot?
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy I put my ballot in the mail last week. There weren't any interesting local issues this time around. I was very suspicious about the ballot I received. I was supposed to put the ballot into envelope #1 and then seal envelope #1 into envelope #2 to mail it. No envelope #1 was provided. Of course, I called the county clerk's office and they said that they forgot to mail out all of the envelope #1's and I should just send it in anyway. They said it would be OK, but I somehow envision all the absentee ballots going into the trash can.
Originally Posted By SuperDry ^^^ The side effect of this is that you no longer have a secret ballot. Whoever opens the outer envelope knows who you are and how you voted, should they care to look.
Originally Posted By Ursula I think with our ballots, anyone who really wants to look, can. My ballot had a unique number on it that matched my number on the outside of the envelope, that also matched the number on the envelope I mailed back to them. Not that I foresee anyone going around matching up outer and inner envelopes, of course.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney I'm doing an absetee ballot and litterally just just sent in the registration papers a few days ago. I'm Californian though and already a registered voter, so I had until the 28th of this month to get it in. Its suppose to take 7-10 days for them to recieve and then I get my ballot through email actually which is cool. Saves time and some money . I dont really care if anyone sees my ballot lol. I mean, who am I and why do they care? Just as long as its officially entered and counted.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << The side effect of this is that you no longer have a secret ballot. Whoever opens the outer envelope knows who you are and how you voted, should they care to look. >> Well, in the case of absentee ballots, the odds of them ever being opened up in the first place is low. If the number of absentee ballots received doesn't exceed the vote differential between two candidates, they go to the garbage can without being counted anyway. I guess if the race is really close, my ballot might be opened. In the circumstance where they are opened, there is an official from each party that stands there and challenges each and every ballot as they are opened so that the odds of them being counted diminish even further. Sometimes I wonder why I go to the effort of putting the thing in the mail.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney ^^Christ thanks for tellling me that, that sucks . So that little 'every vote counts' line they always give you really only counts for us absetee people when the margins are to close from all the REAL voters!!! Why do I feel like my vote was just told to go to the back of the bus lol.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP Our absentee ballots havn't arrived yet, but that's how I will be voting. I like the idea of high speed rail (Prop. 1 on the CA ballot) However, I HATE how they are funding it, a bond issue with no specific plan as how to pay for the bond, just out of the general fund. So, I will be voting no on that one and all the other bond issues, except 12 (which is a mortgage bond that gets paid back from veterns paying back their mortgages).
Originally Posted By wonderingalice I do the early voting thing during the primaries and "off-season" local/state diddies, but always wait until the official November voting day for the biggies.
Originally Posted By cmpaley With the exception of high speed rail which I believe will actually be very good for the California economy long term, I will not be voting for ANYTHING funded with general obligation bonds in the future. It's these mindless initiatives that cost money but have no unique funding stream attached to them that have brought the State of California to the brink of fiscal disaster. I would support a Constitutional amendment that would require that pay-as-you-go rules be attached to any new programs or laws that cost money. That would mean a fee to use the program, a tax to specifically fund said program, the program be ultimately self-supporting (or profitable to the General Fund) or a specified cut elsewhere to fund the new program. I work for a program that is not only self-supporting, it brings in several million dollars more to the General Fund than it costs to operate.
Originally Posted By agent I'm from Oregon and we now only have mail in ballots. I'm a political science nerd and miss going to the polling area and voting booth. My family groins when the ballot arrives. They don't want to hear about the good old days. And no, they haven't arrived yet.
Originally Posted By agent See what happens when I leave the trip planning section! mele nicely points out it should be groans. I obviously miss the polling place!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 gotta admit- that was funny to read the way it was - not too much funny stuff in W/E-- thanks
Originally Posted By Ursula I voted for high speed rail. We use commuter trains a lot and we REALLY need to improve CA's non-existent public transportation system. I would LOVE to use a high-speed rail to SF. We would use it a lot, I'm sure.
Originally Posted By Elderp I want the Veteran's Bond Act to pass. It is for a good cause and it isn't funded by General Obligation Bonds.
