A novel reason to register to vote
Isaac Laquedem
A woman wearing an "ACT-UP" t-shirt and carrying a clipboard with voter registration forms boarded MAX behind me today. She approached a bored-looking twentysomething and asked if he was registered to vote. He shook his head silently. "Do you want to register to vote?" she said. He mumbled something. "It will take only a minute," she said. He shook his head again. Trying once more to persuade him to register, she said to him, "Did you know that in two months they're going to reinstate the draft?"
That didn't get a response, so she gave up and moved on. Her eyes passed over my coat and tie (I'm probably not her target market) as she looked for another twentysomething on the train. I couldn't help wondering if, had she approached me, she would have tailored her marketing pitch to the audience and asked, "Did you know that next year they're going to raise capital gains taxes?"
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Sep 8, '04
lying to people to get them to vote isn't going to help the Dems credibility at all...
Sep 8, '04
A hovel reason to register? As my purchases were being bagged, three guys came in and were called over to the checkstand at the sex toys store to prove they were eighteen and dignified, which appeared borderline. They proved it to the checker, as I witnessed aside, then I asked them outright if they were registered to vote. They each said they were, and I recommended voting, and they drifted away among the racks of lingerie chest-fingering one another and daring who was more politically astute and electorally competent -- a rivalry only voting can settle among themselves. Then I asked the clerk if he was registered to vote, (borderline, but for different reasons), and he said he was and recommended voting.
I suppose to get them to register, if they hadn't been, a coercive thing to say could be 'Did you know that next year there is going to be keen competition for fewer potential mating partners?'
<h1></h1>Sep 8, '04
Hmmm.
Maybe we should get the Voter Education Project to monitor these folks who are using misleading scare tactics to get people to fill out a registration.
If we identify those people who were falsely misled into registering, then maybe we can get the SoS to throw out their votes.
Anything that's necessary to preserve the integrity of the process...