Wednesday, November 08, 2006

What I Overheard at the Poll


As I wrapped up voting yesterday I overheard the following conversation between the poll worker and the woman who stepped into the booth next to me:

Poll worker: Have you used this new voting machine before?
Woman: No.
Poll worker: It's not an interactive screen. You have to scroll using the wheel, and then hit the enter button.
Woman: It's not working! (as she hit the screen with her index finger).
Poll worker: It's not an interactive screen. You use the scroll wheel.
Woman: Really. So I don't touch the screen?

Isn't democracy great? Vox Populi.

4 comments:

Ray said...

It is frightening to see some of these voters -- no wonder the politicians use smear tactics and highly emotional ads to attract votes -- God forbid people actually examine the stance of pols in real issues.

I voted for so-and-so because he likes kids and has nice hair.... UGH!

Democracy is only sustainable with an EDUCATED public... Uh-oh, we are in trouble!

Ryan said...

Well said Ray. I volunteer to be in trouble with you because democracy is only sustainable with an educated public.

Charles North said...

Well said boys. Last minute political ads only appeal to uninformed people. So maybe a 40% voter turnout is just the right number after all.

On a more positive note though, the strength of the American system is that we get to clean house every few years with no bloodshed.

Ryan said...

What does the 40% voter turnout suggest? That 20% of the population is informed?