Two Cheers For The Absentee Ballot ( Part One )

( The Date Is 2 3 OCTOBER 2 0 0 6 , Monday - -

The 2 9 6 t h Day Of The Calendar Year )



Fifteen days prior to Election Day 2 0 0 6 , it is timely and

fitting to type a bit about things political . . . .

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I vote via ABSENTEE BALLOT . I never miss the opportunity to vote ,

as I don ' t wait until Election Day and I never miss a deadline .



The absentee ballot is a boon for me - - and , evidently , for hordes of

other voters . Some thirty per cent of us here in California vote absentee .



I ' ve been taken to task , GENTLY , by one of my friends for using the

absentee ballot when I presumably don ' t have to . Actually , he dismissed

the absentee ballot as a " gimmick " and proposed to abolish it .



Now , if it is his point , his belief , that able - bodied folk oughtn ' t to USE

the absentee ballot , I ' ll dispute his contention without a great deal of

indignation , as it really is not a big issue for me . It is important to

give the absentee ballot its due , however , as it is INDISPENSABLE

for they that can not travel to the polls on the day of the election .

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I am particularly concerned with active duty personnel of the

United States Army , Navy , Air Force , Marine Corps , the

diplomats of the Department of State , et . al . - - Americans who

simply can not venture to their local polling places because duty

requires they be overseas . This I consider essential , in light of

FLORIDA ' s notorious vote - tally in the 2 0 0 0 General Election .

Quite aside from the matter of the official margin - of victory ,

a mere 5 3 7 votes , it concerns me that certain absentee ballots

were never counted , were rejected by certain of Florida ' s

County Clerks - - all because thay hadn ' t POST - MARKS .



THIS is shamefully unfair . Overseas voters have done their part

once they ' ve filled out the ballot , sealed it , provided a return

address and applied the requisite postage . What becomes of their

ballots after that is the responsibility of the Postal Service .



I DO RECOMMEND to any Americans overseas : take Your sealed

ballot and present same to a Postal Clerk . Insist on a " P . V . I . "

( the acronym stands for " Postage Validation Imprint " ) . As a

further precaution , ask to have the ballot shipped via REGISTERED

MAIL or , better still , EXPRESS MAIL ( the latter is costlier ) .

As time is of the essence , Americans voting from abroad should prepare

and send their ballots as soon as they are able .



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The matter of absentee voting was an opportune prelude to type about voting in

general ; ditto elections . The rate of participation tends to decline during

MID - TERM ELECTIONS , as compared with PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS .

Dismissing one as less important than the other is a mistake .



No fewer than THIRTY - SIX Governorships are at stake during Mid - Term ,

including the ' Behemoth ' States of CALIFORNIA , TEXASS , NEW YORK ,

FLORIDA , ILLINOIS , PENNSYLVANIA , OHIO , and MICHIGAN . All

4 3 5 Congressional seats are contested at the Mid - Term , along with one - third

of the United States Senate .



In the Twenty - First Century , information about candidates abounds : aside from

one ' s own local paper , one can access newspapers and magazines galore on - line .



Allow this typist to try to provide thee a sampling :



http://www.nytimes.com - - The N . Y . TIMES , especially JOHN TIERNEY

http://www.latimes.com - - The L . A . TIMES , particularly MAX BOOT & JONAH GOLDBERG

http://www.chicagotribune.com

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/home.htm - - U . S . NEWS AND WORLD REPORT , notably MICHAEL BARONE

http://www.tnr.com - - THE NEW REPUBLIC

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish - - ANDREW SULLIVAN

http://www.hitchensweb.com - - CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

http://www.townhall.com - - TOWNHALL

http://www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_articles - - JONATHAN RAUCH

http://realclearpolitics.com

http://www.nationalreview.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/willgeorge - - GEORGE F . WILL

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/navarrette/archive - - RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR .

http://www.csmonitor.com - - THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

http://jillstewart.net/php/index.php - - JILL STEWART

http://www.victorhanson.com - - VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.opinionjournal.com - - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Editorial Page

http://www.americanheritage.com/blog/JohnSteeleGordon.shtml - - JOHN STEELE GORDON



Twenty Web Sites , Magazines , Newspapers , Archives , Blogs - - all in all , not a

bad start . Note the HUFFINGTON POST has abundant links . Although this typist

is of a Conservative bent , I thought it only ' fair and balanced ' to offer

THE NATION , THE HUFFINGTON POST , THE NEW YORK TIMES

and THE NEW REPUBLIC . I would have liked to include THOMAS FRIEDMAN ,

butt unfortunately much of his commentary is available only through a

NEW YORK TIMES subscription .



I should like to include one more , the venerable NAT HENTOFF :

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff1.asp



I would happily include THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY had they more content

available on - line at no cost . Fortunately , JONATHAN RAUCH has his own

blog , the Link of which is listed above .



TO BE CONTINUED . . . .



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