Another reason to vote

[Charyn Compeau]

..

[ryan costa]

Ohio is symbolic of the Nation's fading industrial, commercial, cultural, and intellectual vitality.

[DougHuntingdon]

That's an example of how our votes may NOT count. They are watching us extra closely because of how Cuyahoga County screwed up all the votes last time. I hope they don't do it again, but Michael Vu does not appear to be that confident.

Doug

[Phil Florian]

I got to vote today and found that the process went nicely for me. I had my cheat sheet for the judges (Judge4yourself site is invaluable) and made it to the right table. No lines to speak of and plenty of machines.

The first hitch that left me concerned with the overall process, though, happened when I headed to a machine. I was directed to a different one because the one I was heading to "was acting up all morning." I didn't dig in too deeply but I muttered something along the lines of, "well, that can't be good" and the poll workers looked surprised. I worry about things when the tech goes screwy. Does that mean votes cast on it don't count? Won't count? Will be lost?

The machine itself was nice and pretty user friendly, I thought. I get two chances to look over my votes, one on screen and the other a paper print out. Sadly, we don't get a copy of the paper print out. That might have helped me a bit to know that I had the same thing the election folks had. Who knows if mine are counted, of course.

It was during my review of my ballot that I heard the second thing that made me concerned. It was something that I didn't think I would hear from a Poll worker's lips. A person had gone too far forward in their ballot and couldn't go back to fix something (I guess, that is what I heard). She was told by the worker that she couldn't go back and fix it and that, "well, one vote won't matter." !!! That was rather shocking. I knew the worker didn't mean anything bad by it but when you think about it, that is basically the non-voter's mantra, "What does one vote count?" And after 2000 and 2004, quite a lot.

Anyway, I hope folks had a good outing today in the Election Booth!

[David Anderson]

I had a good experience at Harding this morning.

One person in line behind me was shocked when her drivers license was not in her wallet. She was so concerned with its whereabouts she left without realizing, or being instructed by the poll worker, that she could have voted on a provisional ballot with the last four digit's of her social security number.

Regarding the lack of a paper copy for the voter, I've never in my life been given a copy or record of my finished ballot. I guess folks, including Phil F., are asking for one now because of what's happened over the last couple of cycles. (Imagine a couple of hundred thousand voters invading the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections building, with copy in hand, demanding to see our "counted" ballot to ensure an exact match?!?! What a fun party that would be.)

The only problem I have - and I always have at least one - is that the balance of the reasons behind the movement to the electronic booth and heightened voter identification requirements are meant to address voter fraud.

Where is the voter fraud? Are people really showing up, forging signatures and voting for other people? Are folks gathering and completing absentee ballots via illegal means? Am I totally in the dark on this one? Please correct me if I am.

However, today's pleasant experience is just another in a long line of pleasant voting experiences I've had.

[c. dawson]

It was pretty busy over at McKinley. Though mostly in my precinct ... where there was usually a line of about 25 people waiting to vote, while the other two precincts had lines of 2 or 3 people. It looks like they moved an extra machine over to our precinct to handle the amount. All told I waited about 35 minutes to vote.

I had prepared ahead of time by writing up a sheet with all my choices for all the issues and offices, so I was through in about 2 minutes, though some people were there 20 minutes or longer, reading everything. Things seemed pretty smooth, and actually I think it was better than the punchcards, because I often wasn't sure which hole to punch because it would line up awkwardly. Though I do miss the old voting machines where you pulled the lever and the curtain closed with a nice solid "Ka-Chunk!" It made voting seem even more solemn and important!

And it's nice to see that the voters recognized Issue 4 for what it was, and rejected it for issue 5. It will be interesting to see what effect it will have locally, as the bars and restaurants go smokeless. I'm looking forward to it, because there's several taverns near my house that have wonderful food, but are so smoky that we can't eat there! Will places close? I hope not; my wife's from Massachusetts, which has been smoke free for some time now, and very few places were truly affected, and some places saw an upturn in business. And there were definitely no shortage of bars in Boston when I was there a few months ago. But I suspect people go to bars for the alcohol, not for the cigarettes.

And hopefully Issue 18 will mean a little money will go towards the Beck Center and other area arts/culture organizations.

And I wish I knew the names of the ladies who were running the table at my precinct in McKinley's gym, because they were the nicest, funniest ladies I've encountered in a long time. They were laughing and joking the whole time and made it all feel nice and relaxing, even with the line! And one of them pointed out that they had been there for over 12 hours working at the table, and they were still smiling and laughing! My hat's off to them.

[Grace O'Malley]

So you don't see anything weird about banning smoking in Ohio along with hoping for a windfall for Beck Centre from the cig tax?

I suspect that the money the "arts" people anticipate will fall very short of their expectations.

As a smoking poster here noted, many smokers will now head to Lorain, Lake, or Summit counties to purchase cigs, not only lowering how much money they expect to make from 18, but also lowering Cuyahoga County tax revenues from cig sales.

[Jim O'Bryan]

So you don't see anything weird about banning smoking in Ohio along with hoping for a windfall for Beck Centre from the cig tax?

Grace

I have never seen imaginary money spent so fast by so many. EVERY non-profit group I have talked with is looking for nothing short of a WINDFALL of cash from this. Groups with nothing to do with the arts setting up small art groups to take advantage of the billions that is sure to come their way.

But I would imagine that that money was also hit hard by the no smoking amendment.

.

[ryan costa]

There must be something to smoke besides Tobacco. Something that isn't illegal yet, or taxed. There are thousands of plants out there. A committee needs to be formed, to smoke each kind of plant.

[DougHuntingdon]

Grace, perhaps they will set up roadblocks to stop "bootlegging" of cigs from out of the county?

Doug

[ryan costa]

Roll your own
it will feel good
your teeth will be yellow
and your fingers will too

[c. dawson]

see, if they'd just legalize pot, but tax it, then all the world's spending needs would be covered ...

And at least the folks I know from my days in the cultural arts and fundraising world are fairly realistic and know that it isn't going to be a windfall ... but that every little bit helps, especially as corporate and individual philanthropy are drying up. Whoever thinks it's going to be a wild windfall doesn't have both feet firmly planted on the ground.

[ryan costa]

The new tax, assuming people are not hopelessly addicted to nicotine, is expected to cost local merchants 40 million a year in operating profits. This is discretionary income taken out of the economy of Cleveland.

There's really no way to tax marijuana, because it is too easy to grow: You would end up spending more prosecuting people growing it without permits and licenses than you would collect in taxes. marijuana is low-labor, low-capital, and much cheaper to store, package, and transport than alchohol or tobacco.

[c. dawson]

yep, that's the problem with pot ... I remember in college, covering a NORML rally when I worked for the paper ... they all argued that the reason that pot wasn't legalized was that anyone could grow it, so the tobacco industry was behind the criminalization of pot, because it would threaten their profits.

no, it's definitely going to be interesting to see what transpires with the smoking ban. As for Issue 18, there will be a trickle of money from that. But I do disagree with the feeling that bars will close because people can't smoke. No ... people go to bars to drink. As long as there's booze there, people will still go to bars. Though the two do go hand-in-hand, but I think drinking is the primary reason people go to bars, followed by companionship, and to hear really bad cover songs by really lame bands.

[ryan costa]

Someone in a band asked me if this would hurt attendance at bars and clubs where bands play.

I reasoned that if there are crowds of people outside the bar(to smoke), it will make people driving by think the bar is more popular. People are attracted to crowds. So long as the crowds aren't too ugly.