TurquoiseB wrote: > In answer to a previous question of Bhairitu's, I > don't know whether the voting process is via paper > ballots or electronic. I've never voted in France, > and wouldn't be able to for at least ten years after > becoming a legal resident. That's one interesting > aspect of this immigration backlash -- the millions > of fairly new *legal* immigrants most threatened by > Sarko and his announced intentions were unable to > vote in this election. Their future has been decided > by those who are trying to cling to what they have > rather than find a way to share in something new, > and possibly better. The outcome of this election is > the very definition of conservatism, and now France > is stuck with that for a while. May they survive > with some sense of their traditions intact. Most likely it is a mix. I suspect the more urban areas may have electronic voting but I would assume if they were paying attention would still have paper trails. In response to MDixon's comment, yes voting by paper can be rigged too but there you definitely have a paper trail.
I can sort of understand the resentment of some of the French against immigrants. Even very liberal folks in this country complain about folks whose accents are so thick they can't understand what they're saying. For instance I've been going to a new dental place that is heavily staffed by latino dentists and technicians. In some cases I've had to have them repeat several times what they were saying because their accent was so thick. And I'm not adverse at all to learning other languages and in fact have some Spanish courses here but want to opt for a run through with a light Rosetta Stone version just to get started. But that is more for traveling in places like South America so I can communicate with folks although that will be rough as I'm not good with languages either (I think there is only about 20% of the population that are) and I'll my accent will be horrible. In the US I don't think people mind immigrants so much because after all most all of us are descendants of immigrants. It seems to be the language problem and what most of immigrants need is a short course in accent reduction, maybe even a weekend workshop. OTOH, I feel with them about English as it is really a mongrel language and horrible to learn. If there is going to be a "global society" then there needs to be a new engineered language and everyone will be in the same spot. As for Spain that sounds good. I have had similar thoughts about South America especially Argentina and Chile since they've been through the fascist ringer too and also Argentina an economic disaster much like Americans will face shortly. I may take a jaunt down there this fall (their spring) this fall. I also am of Swiss descent and if I could get the paperwork together am eligible for Swiss citizenship but I don't like cold snowy weather (probably nice in the summer though). And that is also a reason why I would look at South America to avoid a possible oncoming mini ice age, the one in the recent Pentagon report. And yes it will be interesting to see if there IS a reaction in France due to the closeness of the election. Or have they become as apathetic as Americans? Who the hell wants to work more? Sarkozy sounds like a NeoCon which is VERY out of fashion these days. Only idiots are NeoCons.
