How We Used To Vote

Mr. Slippery writes "Think hanging chads, illegal purges of the voter rolls, and insecure voting machines are bad? The New Yorker looks back at how we used to vote back in the good old days: 'A man carrying a musket rushed at him. Another threw a brick, knocking him off his feet. George Kyle picked himself up and ran. He never did cast his vote. Nor did his brother, who died of his wounds. The Democratic candidate for Congress, William Harrison, lost to the American Party's Henry Winter Davis. Three months later, when the House of Representatives convened hearings into the election, whose result Harrison contested, Davis's victory was upheld on the ground that any "man of ordinary courage" could have made his way to the polls.' Now I feel like a wuss for complaining about the lack of a voter-verified paper trail." The article notes the American penchant for trying to fix voting problems with technology — starting just after the Revolution. This country didn't use secret ballots, an idea imported from Australia, until quite late in the 19th century.

Comments

Re:Congress

[baffled]

There'd be no incentive to bribing a Congressman..

..except to make corrupt proposals, which no one would have incentive to vote for.

Competition

[glaeven]

A man carrying a musket rushed at him. Another threw a brick, knocking him off his feet. George Kyle picked himself up and ran. He never did cast his vote. Nor did his brother, who died of his wounds.

I'd like to see Karl Rove top that.

This week it is YOUR turn to vote "no".

[khasim]

So the various Congress Critters would all agree to vote "yes" for pay raises ... except for one who would vote "no".

Then, while campaigning, they can ALL claim to have voted against it.

And so on with every important issue.

witch trials and letters would be better.

[tjstork]

You know, they really should bring back the scarlet letter and witch trials. I mean, if someone sitting next to you got a promotion that you didn't, you would be able to start the whispering campaign that your rival cut a deal with Satan.

Re:Oh, its us evil Republicans!

[dwye]

As opposed to Democrats, who believe that everyone's vote should count (as long as they vote the right way, and then, ideally, count several times). They, therefore, like registration as long as it does not involve extensive checking or purging the rolls as people die or move, because it lets us shuttle people around to vote in multiple precincts as multiple people, either imaginary, moved, or dead.