Two Election Notes
Having voted only in California and New York in my lifetime, I'm not sure which state is out of the ordinary in their voter education system. In California, voters always get very detailed guides in the mail before each election, showing exactly what their ballot will look like, with pros and cons for each proposition or measure, as well as the location of their polling place.

In the five years I've lived in New York, I think I've gotten something close to that twice. For this election yesterday, not even a single flyer with campaign news hit my mailbox. I just hoped my election place hadn't moved, since I learned last time that it's basically a crapshoot. ... I don't think I should even get started on my NY ballot, which allowed voters to flip the lever for Kerry and any another candidate's delegates -- because Kerry's didn't have any who qualified for the ballot here. Is there logic to that?

My other election note also has a New York/California angle. I usually leave the radio tuned to the BBC overnight, but the show didn't air last night so the station could play a two-hour long live program (from KQED) strictly on the California election results. Very funny to listen to them whine about how the East Coast media declared Kerry the big winner for the day even before the polls closed in California, causing an ever lower voter turnout in California. (As if any Democrat's presidential vote really counted yesterday??) ... Besides that Arnold election a few months ago, this was the only other time in the past few years I've seen New York media pretend to care much about California politics.
- posted by Amy @ 3/03/2004 07:32:00 AM