For John, BLUF: Regardless, one should vote when one can. Nothing to see here; just move along.
Here is a report in Saturday's edition of The Boston Globe on the voting history of Democrat Party Gubernatorial nomination candidate Juliette Kayyem. Fortunately for me, the first word in the article by Reporters Jim O'Sullivan and Todd Wallack was "gubernatorial", since I don't know how to spell it.
But, from there it becomes dodgy. I know that the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act (later the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act of 1986) allowed me to vote in California the whole time I was in the Air Force. I am not so sure about civilians. The fact that Ms Kayyem didn't vote in Cambridge (a town down county from here) while living in the DC area seems perfectly normal to me. The fact that she didn't go to Cambridge City Hall and say "deregister me" also seems reasonable. I am not saying she shouldn't have. I am saying that it is probably something that no one thinks of. I wonder if I am still registered in Huntington Beach, California.
The other thing that bothers me was that while the Reporters compared her voting record with the other candidates, they did not compare it with themselves, even though they mention that Ms Kayyem is a former reporter. If one is going to call attention to the deficiencies of another (and not voting is a deficiency for all adult citizens) then one should be prepared to state one's own status. There ought to be some standards for those who claim to be press professionals (as opposed to those of us in the "new media'). By the way, I vote whenever I can, City, State and National Elections. I have made some wrong choices in the past, but I have made the choices. Even from as far away as Bitberg and Ramstein Germany and outside Angeles City in the Philippines and outside Fairbanks in Alaska.
If one is going to criticize, even as a reporter, one should show how one measures up to the mythical standard being created.
Regards — Cliff
2 comments:
Voting may be a civic duty when there is a candidate that you support, even if there is no possibility of their victory. But i question whether it is an adult duty when there is no candidate that you believe in. At that point in time it seems that going to the polls is merely an act of compliance designed to lend an air of legitimacy to a party controlled system. Maybe it is time for a 'none of the above' option on every ballot?
"None of the Above" might be a good option. One year I voted for my girlfriend's Father as a sort of "plague on both your houses" vote. You can leave the thing blank, as that is noted by the Election Office. Then thre are the perrenials, Donld Duck and Mickey Mouse.
However you vote, showing up and not voting for the nominated candidates, or voting for someone who is not an incumbent, is a way of sending a signal—before I didn't care, but today I wanted you to know I cared, I showed up and I didn't favor you.
Regards — Cliff
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