FeedsOregon's vote by mail hides a poll tax!
No, I don't actually believe that Oregon's vote by mail system hides a poll tax in the form of a postage stamp. I don't think that we're disenfranchising poor voters who can't afford the cost of a stamp. I DO think that we're disenfranchising the very, very lazy, however. Of course, the very very lazy probably weren't going to vote anyway, but actually sending them the ballot is like dangling a delicious pie in front of a person - if that pie were behind a clear pane of glass that could only be broken by solving some really tedious pain in the ass Myst-like puzzle process. Such are the difficulties of finding a stamp in this modern day and age.
I mean, really. Who mails things? I do everything online. The only reason I even have stamps is for novelty purposes. Of course, I live close enough to the Multnomah County Elections Office that I just walked it over. Let me tell you, these fuckers are pushing their look if they expect me to walk a few blocks.
Paul Gronke, my thesis adviser in college, has a nice post up on BlueOregon about how voting early saves the environment, written, I'm sure, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. While the audience of BlueOregon is clearly the choir (though I'm rather uncomfortable with the idea of Gronke singing) it is an important message.
If you haven't voted yet, vote. There are important issues on the ballot this election. We need a yes vote on Measure 49, a yes vote on Measure 50 and, if you're in Portland, we could probably use a yes vote on Measure 26-93. So please, dear readers, vote. I know it's a horrendous pain in the ass; as somebody who will ssh into his computer to eject the CD drive rather than reach over and hit the eject button, I feel your pain. But we need to vote. We won't have to put up with it for too much longer - as Gronke mentions in the comments section of that post, Rep. Nancy Davis, American Hero, is putting up a bill to mandate postage-free absentee ballots. But don't wait for that - vote now.
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Comments from site editors have a darker background than comments from everybody else.You can drop your ballot off at any public library as well as a few other places. See the list here.
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Good call. Thanks, James.
Though that hardly helps. It's strange how inconvenient libraries usually are.
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And if you're in Clackamas County, be sure to vote YES on the five-commissioner charter reform. It's entirely too stupid that two commissioners can't go to lunch without making it a public meeting.
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You have tagged this post "pie," which somehow really amuses me. There are few things I like better in the world than pie. Mmm, delicious pie.
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That's because you're a damn good American.
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Few things more American than pie and cupcake-hating.
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I wouldn't mind Paul singing, but it'd have to be in the bar after a few beers and after we've all loosened up a bit. Although I don't necessarily want to picture the G-man "loosened up."
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Back before I decided that I'm stuck here, my absentee ballot for Ohio required not one, but an outrageous two stamps in order to carry it's democracy over the continent. I think officially it needed $0.54 licked and slapped on there, but at that point it might as well be $5. And in Ohio, I'm pretty sure it is a poll tax.
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