About Chris Williams
Location: Dallas, Texas
Occupation: Web Designer
Bio: Webmaster for PopSyndicate.com and other sites. You can see more of his work at his web design site, Martini Lab, and his blog as well.
Posts: 225
More from this author
All of the servers hosting political blogs are getting their workout while folks comment back and forth on important issues affecting our government. Topics like equal rights, tax subsidies to oil companies, Darfur are all anyone can think of in the days leading up to Tuesdays election. Totally kidding–pedophilia, racism, and Michael J Fox are this year's search tags.
Political blogs, on the surface are just another mouth-peice of the political punditry machine. But they also let people like you and me participate in sharing views and expressing ourselves. They still have a long way to go like all blogs and forums when it comes to raising the standard for discourse, but political blogs have contributed heavily to the main stream discussion. Everything that is said by our elected officials is now fact checked. The voting actions and committee meetings of our house and senate are watched like a hawk by dedicated bloggers and watch dog sites.
Unfortunately, unless you know your crowd, some of these blogs might not be to your liking. If you thought your favorite comic book discussion group reacted strongly to the latest issue of Civil War, you haven't read anything like the fervor coming from wedge-issue subjects discussed at sites like dailykos.com or even some folk's livejournal accounts. Again, this time of year, most discussions tend to linger around the scandal du jour. Sure, FEC complaints filed by Lamont over Lieberman's missing $387,000 in "petty cash" sure sounds juicy, but not nearly as scandalous as a drugged-addled obese radio host lambasting an over-medicated disabled actor/spokesperson for endorsing medical progress. From Michelle Malkin to FactCheck.org, there is a lot on noise out there, but hey, where else would you be able to read up on the latest musings of a former gay hooker with White House press access than the series of tubes we call the internets.
In the days leading up to the election (four days from now), the real issue on everyone mind should be simple: who am I voting for? This election is touted as the turn-over election. Amid the numerous Republican scandals (Mark Foley, Bob Nay, David H. Safavian etc.) coming out this election cycle, Democrats stand a strong chance of winning back the Congress and perhaps the Senate. Maybe that is why the GOP is spending more than 90% of its advertising budget on negative ads. At least with television and radio, you can count on advice on who NOT to vote for the most important questions aren't being addressed.
Most people are not aware who they are voting for. Chances are that come Tuesday, you still won't know which voting district you reside. Fret not, I'm here to help. Push those poltical blogs aside for the moment. Voters this election need to know two things:
1) Who are the candidates?
2) How does your vote affect the big picture?
Knowing which candidates are running in your district is important. You may be fully informed on Mark Folley instant messaging habits (are your parents home?) but chances are you're not in his district. In the last election, I was shocked to find out that I was gerrymandered out of the Sessions/Frost race here in Dallas, TX while my neighbors were able to cast their ballot.
Check out Hotpads.com latest feature at http://elections.hotpads.com/main.htm. Using the google maps API, this search engine for finding places to live has incorporated the apartment hunting experience to include red/blue zones. The premise is that people tend to seek out places to live in like political climates. The interface is a little clunky, but it lets you navigate down to where you live with information on your district, who represents you on the hill and what sublets are available at the same time.
Angela Gunn at Computerworld.com has compiled an extensive and interactive breakdown of voting issues and resources by state at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9004591. The article largely focuses on electronic voting and how each state handles the voting process. Electronic voting is one of the most controversial issues facing elections today. Experts are still showing flaws and irregularities in the e-voting process. This election will undoubtedly expose more issues. Fun fact: Oregon votes by mail, not email, actual mail. They had two voter fraud issues reported in the last election compared to Ohio's thousands. Those two claims involved Portland college students thinking they were signing a petition to legalize pot only to find out they became Republicans.
Hands down the best way to find out about elections in your area is Google Earth http://earth.google.com/. This free application not only has a great way to zoom in on all the world's bars and clubs, but includes districts and election information as well as related search links. And given the possible outcome of Tuesday's mid-term election, you might want to bookmarks those bars too.
Your vote is an important one. The outcome of these elections, gubernatorial, congressional mid-term, or state, will affect policies ranging from local to national and can have ramifications affecting the administration itself.
Of all the races, all the districts, I found five which are worth keeping an eye on.
5. Connecticut's Joe Lieberman vs Ned Lamont
It's Dems vs Dems in the race for the Senate seat in Connecticut. Once a candidate for Vice-president, Joe Lieberman is fighting as the incumbent for Senate but not on his party's ticket. Lieberman was not asked to come back by the Democrats when they picked Ned Lamont 51.8% - 48.2%. Maybe voters were turned off by Lieberman's more conservative views, apparent ties to the White House (he did kiss W after all) and support for staying in Iraq. Thanks, but no thanks in other words. Lieberman did get picked up by another political party. The "Connecticut For Lieberman" party was more than happy to keep him in the race.
4. Texas' Tom Delay vs four other Republicans
I don't fully understand this one. Tom Delay worked so hard to make his district the shape of an ink blot and now the Rorschach district has to vote twice to get rid of him. Having criminal indictment for the "blotting", Tom Delay couldn't have resigned from congress at a more inconvenient time. Because he waited so long to resign (too busy smiling for mug shots), his name is stuck on the ballot for his reelection. So one vote is for the special election to find his replacement for the rest of this congressional session and the other vote is for the the actual election.
There's more. Republicans are stuck with Tom Delay on the ballot. Their only hope in the re-election is a write-in candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. She is up against Democratic challenger Nick Lampson. Lampson used to be an unopposed congressman until DeLay's money laundering gerrymandered him out of office.
3. Missouri Senate, Jim Talent vs Claire McCaskill
Who? The candidates aren't important in this election. What is important is the 30 second video endorsement for stem cell research by Michael J Fox. Putting aside for the moment that Fox has campaigned for Arlen Specter and pretty much anyone who advocates stem cell research, that ad has completely overshadowed the election to anyone not living in the state of Missouri. And Rush Limbaugh, who mocked Fox (check it out on you tube if you haven't eaten recently) ended up on every news station and the front page of every newspaper in the country.
2. Florida vs Diebold
Early voting has begun. There are already voting irregularities happening Florida. Democratic voters are mistakenly casting their ballots for Republican candidates. Voting machines became prevalent after the 2000 presidential election. It seemed like a good idea at the time, voting machines were the immediate answer to butterfly punch ballots. But these voting machines seem to be either buggy, or naturally attracted to Republican candidates. Voters reported seeing errors in their summary page. Votes for one candidate were cast to the opposing side at different polling places. These kinds of errors make good fuel for conspirists who recall the CEO of Diebold promising a Republican victory a few years ago. Residents are concerned because the races in Florida have historically been so close that a margin of error could produce a different outcome.
1. California Voting vs Intimidación del votante
Just because you have the right to vote doesn't mean some folks want you to vote. Voter intimidation is a known and proven method to steer an election. If one group of people, say those with Spanish sounding last names, receives letters in the mail threatening deportation if they vote, that is called voter intimidation and it is illegal. That is what 14,000 residents in Orange County experienced recently. In the letter that the California State Attorney General is now investigating, readers were warned, in Spanish, that if they are an immigrant and vote, they face incarceration and possible deportation. The letter came from the campaign offices of Tan D Nguyen (R) who is running against Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D). Just for kicks they should have sent one to Governor Schwarzenegger, also an immigrant.
