Voting

Another election is upon us.  The only saving grace is the political ads will go away for the next two years. 

 i've decided that i much rather have the right to veto instead of vote.  i only registered to vote to have another form of ID with my address on it.  Has my vote ever mattered?  No.  Thoreau likened voting to gambling.  i'd argue the establishment is the House (the house always wins).  Beginning to think Married with Children was right ("The Chicago Wine Party" episode) - some quotes at the end of the post.

Al Bundy: "One thing I know, we're never going to win through the system. Voting has never been the American way. We didn't get away from that pansy country England by voting". 

What is voting?  Voting in giving the people the illusion that they are somehow involved in government, not just powerless subjects of it.  Which is a lie.  It is basically pacifying the sheep so the government can shear them.  Or put another way, voting is a suggestion box.  Nice in theory, if they ever read the suggestions.  If voting really mattered people in charge wouldn't let you do it.

It is all a show that you are supposed to mindless accept the outcome - though there is no way you can actually verify what the government says are the true results.  Would the government lie to you?  They can and frequently do.  Would their surrogates in the media (basically failed actors) call them out on it?  Not likely.

Potential issues i have with "voting" (maybe some tinfoil hat stuff)

• Government is in charge, not some third party.  i'm in, what is essentially a one-party, state.  All the checks are partisans.  They have every incentive to manipulate results to retain power.  Yes, i am saying the Democrats are the party of "the ends justify the means".
• Not really verifiable: you'd need a ton of access to actually confirm the votes are legitimate (real and from actual eligible voters).  Especially mail in election.  They won't even tell me here how my vote is counted.  People like Marc Ellis are not fighting "barriers to voting" they are fighting to enable fraud.
• There is a perverse incentive to sign everyone up, not to actually vote, but to use their ballots.  If you register the "right" kind of people to vote (those who won't), then someone can cast a ballot for them in perpetuity.
• Related: voter rolls should be frequently cleaned, but rarely are.
• Could create fake registrations, especially in minority areas in cities (it would be "racist" to question them).  Counties and states would likely look the other way on this (as they are most likely enabling, or complicit, in it anyway).
• Chain of custody of the ballot.
• Confirmation of ballot choices.  All this state says is "accepted" (meaning given credit for voting).  It does not tell me how my vote was tabulated (for who).  It wouldn't take much to spoil a ballot.  Poll workers should never have the ability to determine "voter intent"
• Electronic Tabulation issues: when dealing with a large amount of ballots, it would be possible, whether through glitches or malevolent intent, to switch certain votes to the other candidate.  With a large number of ballots, it would be hard to tell.  People are too dependent on machines (and far too trusting of them).  Every computing device has backdoors and vulnerabilities.
• Montgomery Brewster option: there needs to be a "None of the Above" option on ballots.  Would make it harder for poll worker to "vote" on an undervote.  Also, some positions run unopposed.
• Write ins: apparently in this state, if you want a vote to actually count for a write-in, they have to register with the state.  Not exactly what write ins were meant for.  
• Ballot harvesting: i'm talking egregious abuses like getting signatures and someone else casting votes for them (like nursing homes or homeless camps).

Quote time (from the Married with Children Episode "The Chicago Wine Party"

Marcy Darcy: "Everyone I know is going to vote for a woman, regardless of her qualifications or her stance on the issues".  So prophetic, throw in abortion and you have the democrat platform

Al Bundy: "Tell you the truth, I'm never voting again. Like marriage, no matter who you choose it turns out bad. Unless you're rich. They get everything they want. Well, fine. Let them have their birds and their air and their... Even their presidents. But we cared about beer, and they took it away from us".

Poll worker: "Here, take a ballot. Hell, this is Chicago, take two".