Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Get out and vote

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-05-2002, 12:16 PM:

It is general election day again here in the United States. It does not matter what party platform you support. It is very urgent that you support the political party and candidates who shares your views by voting.

-Claude

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 11-05-2002, 12:28 PM:

I would love to vote, but am stuck at home, sick, and my polling place is a three hour drive because I am registered in my home county and procrastinated too long to request an absentee ballot.

Shame on me. Oh well, I'm in Florida so maybe my ballot would have been lost in the trunk of some senior citizen poll worker's car for months, anyway!

=TMP=

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 11-05-2002, 02:36 PM:

Shame on you Thomas!

I myself went out of my way to make sure I could vote today. I have many friends that never vote because they say thier vote doesn't count. NONSENSE. Here in Utah we have nearly One Million people eligible to vote, and only about 300 thousand that do. If all of these "my vote doesn't count" would just get together, the face of politics would change.

It's time to make a difference.

Dave

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-05-2002, 03:35 PM:

When Hawaii became a state in 1959, 85% of the registered voters went to the polls to tell the US congress they accept statehood as mandated by the recently bill passed by that body and signed by President Eisenhower. Hawaii's population at that time was much less than a million people. Our population today is 1.5 million. As reported by the media, the number of people who had taken the time to vote during our recent primary election was a national disgrace. only 35% bothered to vote! Nationally, political pundits are predicting that voter turnout is expecting to be low in most states that does not have close elections. As far as I am concerned, it makes no difference how close an election is. If you did not vote, you do not have the right to complain about how your state and our country is governed.

-Claude

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 11-05-2002, 04:11 PM:

Amen claude !!!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-05-2002, 05:38 PM:

Great stuff on the ballot in Oklahoma! Residents get to vote on items such as putting retired Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Steve Largent in the Governor's mansion. He'll probably win when voters consider the two other choices: A crackpot who thinks the state's economy will improve just by abolishing the turnpikes and a blood-sucking trial lawyer that keeps Oklahoma's worker's comp insurance situation among the worst in the nation.

I guess it is a natural career path for football players. Either they become an announcer on TV or a politician in Oklahoma. We already had Oklahoma University quarterback J.C. Watts in the U.S. Congress.

Most entertaining item on our ballot: voting to keep cock-fighting legal or ban it. BTW, cock-fighting is two roosters fighting to the death for wagering and not sword fighting with dildos (or your own naughty bits).

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 11-05-2002, 06:12 PM:

Guys, I voted.

I hardly knew anything about the candidates from the TV ads. All they did was badmouth each other and tell me nothing about what they planned to do when they get to Washington, or Raleigh (state capitol)

I read some reviews of the candidates in a local alternative newspaper that seems to be more in touch with the PEOPLE than the local 100+ year old traditional newspaper. I made my decisions this way.

Personally, I am glad that Jesse Helms did not run again.
There are many here in NC that feel this way.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 11-06-2002, 02:02 AM:

Minnesota - home of same-day voter registration ... ever wonder how Minnesota posts 80% state-wide "voter-turnout"? Look at the individual precincts. The precinct I used to vote in (Mankato P-14), had 142% voter turn-out. Just so happens, I was across the street from Minnesota State University. Their "turn-out" is just a comparison of the number that voted vs. the number that were registered AS OF 7AM ELECTION DAY. All you have to do to vote if you're not on the list is bring in a utility bill.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 11-06-2002, 02:47 AM:

I voted....but my vote for anything that involved a tax increase was "NO!" this time.

Washington State Government of the Evergreen (or Everstump) State seems to be nuts about the "Tax and Spend" philosophy.

Not associated with voting, but a "Stump Permit" is needed to haul off an old tree stump from your property up here. (I'm not kidding)

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-06-2002, 02:52 AM:

God forbid you try to burn an uprooted stump in your backyard. You'll need a fire permit, still get fined for burning a stump, then still have to pay to have it 'deposited' in a 'stump dump'.

Actually my neighbors aircraft runway gets longer every year from his stump dump. The best part is, he makes enough money off of it that he can afford to pay someone to keep the grass on the runway cut.

IIRC you can use a utility bill here to vote too. Actually it's any piece of mail that is addressed to you.

Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 11-06-2002, 02:55 AM:

Nevada's question 9 on the ballot is to make it legal to own up to 3oz. of marijuana. The government will grow and sell marijuana and tax the living

out of it and probably make a killing on it if it passes. After I post this, I will be heading to the news sites to see what happend on it.

Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 11-06-2002, 03:18 AM:

Question 9 was shot down by roughly 2:1. I guess the pot heads got lost at the 7-11 gathering snacks on the they to the polls.

On top of that, the people voted to have the government take over Nevada Power and that gay marriages are illegal. I swear the people here suffer from rectal cranial inversion. Why should the government care about if a married couple is gay or not?

The NV Power thing also confounds me as well. It will cost the tax payers here $3 billion. The reason for take over...to cut costs. Right, like that is going to happen with the state controlling it.

I am about to go on a major rant but I won't bore you. I will just blame the rednecks here in NV. I am surrounded by morons...

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 11-06-2002, 09:08 AM:

In Tennessee last night, we ended up with a new governor... who used to be the Mayor of Nashville, and we also ended up with a change in the state constitition to now allow the state to have a lottery.

Nothing really exciting.

------------------
Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Lebanon, Tennessee

Stardust Drive-In Theatre
Watertown, Tennessee

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 11-06-2002, 11:30 AM:

I had 6 Amendmants and 5 Referendums to vote on this year ...

The most notable being 79-21 an amendment was approved that disallowed candidates in default on state, local, or federal taxes from running for public office. Oh, and now we have a new license plate program "Get your pet neutered"

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 11-06-2002, 11:55 AM:

Christoper, Nevada Power taken over by the government? That'll screw it up for sure...

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 11-06-2002, 12:47 PM:

Jeb is governor here again. The death penalty is now in our constitution. So is a ban on smoking in indoor workplaces, and a regulation on the sizes of cages for pregnant pigs.

Not to mention an amendment to reduce class sizes and voluntary statewide pre-K, for which the elected governor is voraciously against. This should be interesting.

Honestly, was half this stuff really necessary to be written into the state's constitution??

I was also watching Nevada's Question 9, as well as Arizona's Proposition 203 and Ohio's Issue 1. None of which passed. Let's fill them there prisons! *sigh*

All in all, a disappointing election

=TMP=

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 11-06-2002, 01:29 PM:

I disagree about the election bieng a dissapointment. Here in Utah, the Republican party gerrymandered the districts to eliminate the democrats from thier ranks. Didn't work. In fact the Democrat Jim Matheson retained his house seat, and the Dems gained a senate seat here in our state elections.

While strongly an Independant, I was very happy to see that the Republicans gained control of the senate. This allows them to either sink or swim on thier own merits. If they can't make it work, it really is thier own fault, and no one elses.

They got what they want. A total republican goverment. Lets see what happens when they roll with it. Remember though that the Dems still have filibuster control of the senate, so who knows.

Dave

Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 11-06-2002, 04:03 PM:

I too, voted yesterday, for the first time

We had 3 measures to vote on. the first was a repeal of an income tax break for those with CRP land or wildlife land. The second was an attempt to keep kids in the state by giving college kids a 1000 dollar a year tax break that would cost the state a tidy sum of $55M a year

. And lastly, the third measure was to legalize a state lottery.

Whoopeee(flatly).........

Josh

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-06-2002, 07:25 PM:

The Republicans may have taken the majority in the US House and Senate (thereby driving the lawmaking agenda). However, they do not hold a filibuster-proof majority (2/3).

Oh yeah, cock-fighting got banned here in Oklahoma --but not by very much in the vote. The ban was expected to pass by a 2:1 margin, but around 45% of the voters were for keeping it legal.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 11-06-2002, 07:58 PM:

It's a good thing Oregon's ultra-liberal Democrats are also ultra-cheap. The socialized health care measure went down in flames, 79% No to 21% Yes. "Socialized medicine: Sure! Me pay higher taxes to get it? No Way!!"

What makes me laugh is when the backers of such a badly-conceived measure lose, they always blame it on being outspent by their opponents. They refuse to accept that their measure might have lost on its merits. Voters are stupid, aren't they?

Just to make this semi-relevant to film & movie theaters, Oregon voted to increase the minimum wage from $6.50 to $6.90 in 2003, with annual increases after that tied to inflation. So a lot of theater employees here will probably be getting raises. Wonder if ticket & concessions prices will also rise.

Oh yeah, the other big loser was a measure to require labeling of all genetically-modified foods. It also went down in flames. My theory is that most of us regularly eat at fast-food restaurants, which proves we really don't want to know what we're eating.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-06-2002, 08:36 PM:

At least the folks in Florida were (apparently) able to run an election properly!

(No problems here with the "Automatic Voting Machine" mechnical lever machines!)

In Mass., we had three ballot questions. The first one (which, amazingly, almost passed) proposed to eliminate the state income tax. The second one (which did pass) requires English-language education for all students. The third one (which passed but was non-binding) sought to invalidate a recently passed law which provided for taxpayer-funded elections.

We also have a new governor for the next term.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 11-06-2002, 09:46 PM:

Washington State is like a zoo.

1. The voters have soundly rejected a 9-cent gasoline tax increase, but friends and foes of the ballot measure say the issue isn't going away. Referendum 51 died by landslide proportions. 37% were for the tax increase, and 67% said "NO!" What gets me is it was literally squashed dispite a milti-million-dollar ad blitz and the backing of busines, labor, and most of the state's political establishment. They just don't seem to get it that we are tired of being taxed to death!

Our Good Governor said, We're very disappointed, but determined to press on."

Here's the corker:

2. In the second transportation-related ballot measure, voters gave approval to Initiative 776 drafted by the same gentleman who drafted I-676 several years ago which addressed a flat rate fee for car registration. What was funny is the governor encouraged us not to vote in favor of I-676. The governor also promised he would "fix" the high registration fees to a flat rate of $30.00 which he did. I-676 passed very handsomely anyway, but was declared illegal because it contained more than one subject. Much later, the governor's "fix" was repealed in some counties. So, along came another by the same gentleman who drafted I-676 and it was called I-776...

The news report from the local "Rag" says: "...voters gave (ad lib - this gentleman) a measure of vindication by approving Initiave 776, his first ballot measure since he admitted in February that he used about $200,000 in campaign donations to create a salary fund. He previously denied enriching himself through his campaigns. This year's installment, his fifth in four years, will roll back the cost of registering cars for $30.00 per year in King, Snohomish, Pierce and Douglas counties."

I-766 had 56% support and 44% opposed.

3. We did approve I-790, a proposal by firefighters and police for a greater say over their pensions. 53% yes, and 47% no.

4.. We said "Nuts to You" on Referendum 53, the Legislature's recent overhaul of unemployment insurance taxes. It was rejected by 60% to 40%.

5. We passed HJR 4220, a constitutional amendment to allow fire districts to ask local voters for a longer special operating and construction levies. It was passed by 68%.

OK, I blabbed enough. I think you will agree with my first sentence about "Washington State is like a zoo..." (Especially if you live in this state.) But all in all, it is a nice state, and we, the voters, are trying to give the Hot Air Technicians a message or two...and we are winning!

Next time around, get out and vote. Your vote does mean something!

I am not a bit ashamed that I voted "YES" for I-776, I-790, and HRJ 4220, and "NO" for R-51, and R-53. If someone does not like how I voted, that it is their problem, not mine.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-07-2002, 03:46 PM:

Not only did the Republican party do well on the US mainland. They also did very well here in Hawaii by winning the governorship for the first time in forty years. Linda Lingle also has the distinction of becoming the first female governor of the state. Our late US Representative, Patsy T. Mink also won re-election and there will be a winner take all special election next January 30th to replace her in the the next session of congress. I think it is a very stupid idea but the state will also spend about two million dollars for another special election at the end the the month to elect someone to finish Rep. Mink's term. As I see it, the current session will most likely adjourn by December 20th, about six weeks from now and to spend that much money to elect someone for such a very short period of time is a tremendous waste of public finds especially when Hawaii's economy is not very good since 9/11.

-Claude

Posted by Jacob Huber (Member # 1138) on 11-07-2002, 10:02 PM:

I believe one of the reasons that the MJ Propositions got shut down is because of the proposed involvement with the government (and being too stoned to vote). Most smokers are very wary of anything to do with government control.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 11-09-2002, 12:36 AM:

You should hear our state "bugeteers" howl.....

A liner from the Seattle PI says Referendum 51 results cut a $39,000,000 hole in the city budget. It says further that the city also lost $7,100,000 from the passage of I-776.

Something is wrong here....I always thought it was proper to have the money secured before a budget is passed. Instead it seems they pass a budget and scurry around trying to figure out where they are going to get the money. Nothing like counting the chickens before they are hatched...

If any those politicians thought the voters are going to say "sure" to an additional 9-cent per gallon of gasoline tax, they are nuts! We are about the highest in the nation now!

If they think the voters are going to say "sure, raise our vehicle registration fees and base it on 2% (or whatever it was) of the fair market value", they are equally nuts! Nothing like paying almost 100 bucks for license renewal on a 1991 Ford Taurus that is ready for the scrapyard.

I wonder if the politicians believe all civilians don't have enough sense to come in out of the rain. What do they take us for, anyway?

I am curious if other states pull bonehead snafu's like ours does quite often....

Jeeze....