November
4, 2008, I walked into my local Department of Motor Vehicles branch to do what
a good American citizen does, vote. After making it through the door I saw a
line that seemed to be longer than any I had before encountered. The wait to
vote was well over an hour. So I did the unthinkable, I walked back out the
door and went on to other activities.
But,
is it all that unthinkable? Every election millions of voters never show up, never
cast a ballot, and never vote. For me, it was a convenience issue. I didn’t
have the time to wait in line for hours, and I think millions of Americans have
similar issues. The system is simply too out dated to accommodate them.
I totally understand what you mean. I just find it interesting that our country was founded around the hopes of the people participating in the government and yet, as soon as it becomes "inconvenient", we boycott the system. Though recognizing the need for change and improvement usually improves a system, what if it didn't? For example, think about Christmas. It is so inconvenient to wrap every single present. In the blink of an eye the wrapping paper will be in the garbage can. Why wrap presents then? It's tradition! Why do we take the time to vote? It's tradition. Though I love improvement, I just wonder how far we can go before we should truly hold on to what we have.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is being used more and more in just about every aspect of life. Voting is very important in today's society and if inconvenience stops that then something has to be changed. There needs to be a new changed frame of reference that voters don't need to stress over going to vote; that they can simply open up the internet and cast their vote in a convenient matter online. Great post, thanks for sharing!
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