One obvious solution that seems like it should be manageable for tomorrow at least would be to allow people to cast their paper ballots as soon as they have checked in and filled them out. I know what I’m voting for, and since those paper ballots aren’t going to be modified during the discussion period, I can’t imagine why we can’t vote right off the bat. It would at least give people a window in the morning to participate.
Sent from my iPhone On Dec 1, 2023, at 1:51 PM, Sara R via Lincoln <lincoln@lincolntalk.org> wrote:
Agree Virginia and Adam! How do we support making this change.
Sara Brown
Sent from my iPhone On Dec 1, 2023, at 1:24 PM, Virginia Goodwin <virginiahgood...@gmail.com> wrote:
Literally the point is, NOT every registered voter has an "opportunity" to vote, when that "opportunity" is contingent upon physically being at a certain location on one single specific day for an unspecified (but extremely long) amount of time. Besides being highly discriminatory against people who are just busy or have other calls on their time, this is also a disability rights issue, for people like the original writer's mother, who cannot physically gut it out in the auditorium for hours and hours.
As Adam says, an extended period of paper ballots, gods forbid possibly including mail-in ballots, so people can vote from the comfort of their own homes when they have time, gives many more people a real opportunity to participate in the vote than our current system.
We have way better technology now than they did in the past. We have paved roads, gas-powered vehicles, reliable mail service, cheap printing, and the joys of the internet. We should embrace those technologies to expand real access to town voting to as many registered voters as possible.
Virginia Goodwin Well Sara, you can also have direct democracy on the ballot with early voting and absentee voting. Just saying. This is the law in most towns in New England. Every registered voter has an opportunity to vote on all issues, but you must be present and counted. The alternative is to turn that opportunity to elected officials to make all decisions. If that a more open, democratic way. I chose the former where I have a chance to participate in direct democracy rather than handing my vote to a second party. Sara
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