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One Reporter's Opinion: Voting in America George PutnamIt is this reporter's opinion that with so much of the world struggling to throw off tyranny and oppression in striving toward democracy, perhaps it's time to take measure of how we are accepting our own privilege yes, responsibility of our own hard-won democracy within our republic. And one of these responsibilities is the vote. We, by our vote, select the men and women who write our laws and govern. That single vote, our vote, has been responsible for some of the most important and lasting decisions. For example, one vote in years gone by decided whether we would adopt English rather than German as our official language.
And yet my good friend Gary Robertson says, "If you want to win an election in America, all you have to do is round up the non-voters. They constitute America's largest political party all 120 million of them!" It is a fact that in the past presidential election, one of the most controversial in history, slightly more than 105 million votes were cast. In other words, the eligible voters who didn't vote outnumbered the ones who did. The Atlantic Monthly reports that education is a critical factor in who votes. In the 1998 elections, college graduates voted at 36 percent above the national average. Those who had only some high school education voted at 43 percent below the average. Those who have weighed the voting habits of Americans say age is another key to who votes. Old people vote, but young people, especially those with less education and less income, rarely do. And you seniors can take a bow. You vote at a rate 31 points higher than those under 30. But here's a shocker to those of us who find it hard to believe Mexico does anything better than we do, how about their voter registration system. My friend, American citizen Allan Wall, lives in Mexico, is married to a lovely Mexican lady and has two children. He is there to teach Mexican kids how to speak English and is able to evaluate the voter registration systems used by both of our nations. In fact, Mexican voters are required to have a voter ID card that is complete with photograph, fingerprint and a holographic image to prevent counterfeiting. At the Mexican polling place is a book containing the photograph of every voter in the precinct. The book is available to the poll workers and observers from the various parties. If there is a doubt as to someone's identity, the poll workers simply look up the person's name and are able to determine whether or not the photo matches up. Additionally, the Mexican voter's thumb is smudged with ink. So if the voter shows up at another polling site to vote, they know he's already voted elsewhere. As proof that it works, Mexico's 2000 presidential election chose Vicente Fox with a plurality of vote; and the election, unlike our own, was uncontested. My friend Allan Wall says that in contrast, our U.S. voter registration is a joke. Thanks to the "motor voter" regime, not only is it unnecessary for a voter to prove citizenship, they are also not required to prove their identity. As a matter of fact, registrars have been instructed not to be inquisitive about an applicant's citizenship or the lack thereof. Need we remind you that over the last few years more and more examples of voter fraud are coming to light in America, and that includes casting of ballots by non-citizen voters. Perhaps our congressmen and women should take a look at Mexico's voter registration system to help us improve our own. References & Further Reading: "Why Is Mexico's Voter Registration System Better Than Ours?" by Allan Wall, vdare.com, Jan. 4, 2003 http://www.allanwall.com; http://www.vdare.com/awall "Nonvoters Largest U.S. Political History" By Gary Robertson / American Trends, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Feb 03, 2003 http://www.reformpartyct.org/press/RTD_020303.html "Should Election Day Be a Holiday?" A simple, practical step might summon the ranks of nonvoters from the civic void by Martin P. Wattenberg, Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 1998 http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98oct/electday.htm The legendary George Putnam is 88 years young and a veteran of 68 years as a reporter, broadcaster and commentator ... and is still going strong. George is part of the all-star line-up of Southern California's KPLS Radio Hot Talk AM 830. Click here for George's complete bio ... and check out a new feature article in Insight magazine on George
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