Election maps

Election maps

As in 2004, a look at the map distorted to represent the Electoral Collage and shaded in purples to show how close the vote was in various places.

Sarah Palin Thinks Dinosaurs Lived at the Same Time As Humans

The Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States of America actually believes that dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans.

There are many issues on which I respect that people have different opinions than I. This isn’t one of them. If you vote for John McCain, you’re endorsing the possibility that someone could be in the White House who doesn’t believe very basic facts about science and history.

Watching the Election

The two sites I’ve been reading most about the election, besides The Washington Post, are Electoral-Vote.com and Five Thirty Eight.

Register to Vote

In Michigan, the Republican party intends to try to prevent people whose homes have been foreclosed from voting.

In Ohio, the McCain campaign sent out absentee ballot applications that included an unnecessary question that, if left blank, invalidated voters’ applications.

Until the Alaska legislature banned the practice, then Mayor Pailin charged rape victims for their own forensic tests.

Register to vote.

Today is the end of the electronic voting machine

Today is the end of the electronic voting machine

Daily Kos piece on why we should move to Oregon-style vote-by-mail systems.

Voting Flyer

The number of people who don’t vote in major elections bothers me. I’ll spare the rant about that, and just provide an idea on the matter: on Monday (the day before the election) I’m going to post simple flyers in the elevators in my building telling my neighbors where to vote. I suggest that if you live in a big building that you should do the same. It isn’t hard, because everyone who lives in your building should be able to vote at the same place (assuming they’ve properly registered to vote at their current address).

People don’t vote for three basic reasons: they don’t care, they don’t know how, or they forget. You can’t do much about the first one very easily, but you can remind your neighbors when and where to vote.

A few guidelines:

• Keep it simple. All we want to do is remind people to vote. At the top, put a simple header like, “Remember to Vote on Tuesday, November 7.”
• Include the name of the polling place, like “Springfield Elementary” or “St. Charles Church.”
• Include the address of the polling place and a simple map.
• Include the times that your polling place will be open. You should be able to find this info online. (Here’s Virginia’s voting information page.)
• Do not include any politics. Don’t tell people for whom to vote, and don’t busy up the page with a summary of the issues. They can look this up themselves, and the parties will probably have people handing out flyers at the polling place.

Again, the idea here is just to post a simple reminder to your neighbors, not to persuade them to vote one way or another.

Election 2006: Senate and House Races Updated Daily

Election 2006: Senate and House Races Updated Daily

This site was a fun one to watch in 2004, though polls have lots of flaws.