Elections, Propositions, and the sequel to total recall

Voting in Cali is unlike anything I have ever been part of. It seems that anything having to do with money warrants a vote from the populace. So, there were 5 Propositions about fiscal borrowing and spending. Apparently if you have enough votes, anyone can get a proposition onto the ballot. So we also had to vote whether or not we wanted stricter penalties for sex offenders, taxes on cigarettes, a cleaner environment, public funds for elections, and a ton more. I have never had to do so much research in order to be informed enough to vote. On top of the all these propositions, we had to vote for the governor of the state, the Lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary, insurance commissioner, board members, city councilmen, and a slew of county propositions. All said our ballot was the size of a poster (11 X 14) double sided, and took over 20 minutes to fill out.

Here is the really disturbing thing. After Trisha and I vote, we go home and watch the news to see how the rest of the country is doing. It made me proud of PA to see the turnover in the senate. However, we decided to watch a documentary on HBO about electronic voting machines. After an hour long documentary we just felt like our vote was worthless. They showed how easy it is to rig the optical scanners that record the votes, and how simple it is to change the totals in the collection program. Basically showing that anyone with access to the device could rig an election in the favor of any candidate they choose.

I guess at the end of the day we need to be happy that the election was a success. And hey, Arnold even gets his sequel.