States and EC (was: 28th Amendment?)

julie_stahlhut · Thu, 09 Nov 2000 07:03:58 -0800

Anthony wrote:

> The lessening
importance of states as
> individual and separate
entities can only be a 
> good thing for the nation.

I couldn't agree with you more, Anthony. While they
may have some historic function as a check on federal
power, state governments seem to exist these days mostly
to obstruct both local AND federal entities.

Case in point: Michigan managed to pass a new law (in
April, just as students were wrapping up exams and
returning home) that forbids campus-resident students from
registering to vote in their college towns. Now, while I'm in
favor of residence choice, I can at least understand
some of the arguments against it. But the fact that
this is up to the states means that students in
Michigan don't have the same voting rights as those in,
say, Massachusetts. 

Also, the laws on
restoring the voting rights of convicted felons, after
they've served their sentences, vary widely from state to
state. In some, it's fairly easy to get one's voting
rights back; in others, it's damned near impossible.

Both of these STATE laws affect enfranchisement for
FEDERAL elections, folks. And, they affect people
(students, ex-cons) who don't normally have the resources to
take this kind of stuff to court and challenge it.
Yes, people like the aforementioned students can get
absentee ballots. But, every little obstacle we put in the
way erodes the willingness of some individuals to
participate. Maybe it shouldn't. But it does, and I firmly
believe that our lawmakers in Lansing are completely and
cynically aware of this.

Anyway, I'm proud of the
undergrads in my lab who did use absentee ballots, and of
the one who drove the 60 miles to his hometown on
Monday night, got up early Tuesday to vote as soon as
the polls opened, and then drove back to Kalamazoo in
time to go to his classes. 

I wasn't going to
tell anyone about my vote this year, but have changed
my mind. Though I don't disavow my roots as a
liberal Democrat, I *am* a Green, and since I live in a
swing state, I was a Nader Trader in this election.
(Ralph Nader himself disavowed this strategic-voting
tactic, but, hey, I don't have to agree with him on all
issues just because he happened to be the Green
standard-bearer.) 

I really struggled with how to vote
according to my conscience, until I realized that in this
case there might be more than one way to do it.
Neither was perfect. I picked the one that I thought had
the best chance of getting around the obstructionist
Electoral College. 

Julie
"If a vote for Nader is
a vote for Bush, who do I vote for if I want to
vote for Nader?"
-- David Letterman