#877 Motor Voter

There was recently a charge by the McCain Campaign that Barack Obama once represented the registration organization ACORN in a lawsuit. This charge was meant to associate Obama with the group, recently in trouble with the State of Nevada for badly registering some folk. Unfortunately, Obama’s partner in the lawsuit that represented ACORN was the Federal Government.
Obama did work with ACORN but he did so with and on behalf of the US Justice Department, a little organization who defends the interests of, um, the United States of America.
A great example of how you can tell the truth and still not tell the truth. Kind makes you wonder if there’s an erratic driver on the Straight Talk Express these days.
And he doesn’t care what he drives over on his way to the election.
The lawsuit in question was to make the state of Illinois conform to their Motor Voter statute, which allows people to register to vote at their DMVs when they are getting a drivers license. Now some would argue that just because a person can drive to the polls doesn’t mean he or she should vote. A recent statistic seems to bear that out.
Because not all of them are good drivers.
And it seems that our Mail-in ballot system here in Thurston County has had another positive effect that our Auditor might want to run on next time she’s up for office. Saving lives.
A recent bit of research done by the University of Toronto shows that there is an 18% increase in fatal accidents on the election days. That’s worse than some three-day holidays. There is also an average of 800 extra accidents resulting in disabling injuries.
One possible reason is people rushing to polls along unfamiliar routes. I know when I voted, it was the only time I ever went to the Seventh Day Adventist church.
So what I’m saying here is our Auditor has had a big part in saving lives by helping to bring about the all mail-in voting.
Voting is a precious right that drives our democracy, but exercising it shouldn’t involve driving over others.
America, ya gotta love it.