Don't forget to vote!

Wazzzzzzzzup 2008

Is Salt Lake City part of "Real America?"

Recently John Stewart of the Daily Show had a little equation to help you figure out if you live in "Real America:"

(Population* average price of coffee + Art house movie theaters * Streets
named after Martin Luther King) all over pieces of identification needed to buy
Sudafed * (the number of people who wear trucker hats in town – Actual truckers)
* 1/(houses of worship [not Jewish]-bars)

If the answer is less than 10, you live in real America!

So what is this for the saintly Salt Lake City? Well lets find out:

Population – Est. 180,746 in 2006
Average price of a cup of coffee - $1.50
Art House Movie theaters – 4
Streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. – 1
Identification needed to buy Sudafed – 1
Number of people who wear trucker hats – Estimate 3% - 5,422
Number of actual truckers – Estimate 1% - 1,807
Number of churches – 79
Number of bars – 23

And the result?

(180,746*1.5+4*1)/((1*(5,422-1,807))*(1/(79-23)) = 271,123/((3615)*(1/56)) = 271,123/64.5 = 4203

4,203 > 10

Therefore Salt Lake City, sadly, is not part of "Real America."

The Down Ballot Blues

Often times people look at the national elections taking place and become disheartened by the fact that their vote does not matter, after all Utah is going to vote for McCain and there is nothing we can do to change that.  These people, sadly, are absolutely right.  No matter all he hooting and hollering, after all the rallies, a victory by Obama in Utah is about as likely as Utah legalizing gambling and liquor sales in stores – it just ain't gonna happen.

So why bother voting in the first place? I mean the national election is already a foregone conclusion; your vote clearly does not matter and will not make a difference.  What is the point in showing up in the first place?

Well, let me tell you cynical Sally, this attitude is fundamentally flawed.  True, your vote will do little to sway the national election, but this dose not mean that your vote does not count. 

This year you will have the opportunity to vote on all sorts of candidates and ballot initiatives that will greatly affect you.  Everyone in the state will vote for offices such as governor, attorney general, state auditor (the dude what does give out the money), and state legislative races. In some cases people will be voting for school board members, city or county mayors, city council members, and even initiatives such as allowing a new coal power plant or expanding the Hogle Zoo.

These issues are very real and can easily be influenced by your vote. It is only logical that you have more influence over a state house race than you do over a presidential race. In a house race you re one of about 12,000 people who will vote as opposed o one in 150 million in a presidential election.  

Ah but you still say to me "one in 12,000 is still an amazing small percentage, how can my vote matter?" Good question, and this question is exactly why the Young Democrats of Utah have launched the 18 votes initiative.  Four elections in 2006 were won by less than 100 votes, the most notable being Laura Black versus Mark Walker (who would later be charged with bribery in the state treasurer's race) where the Black lost by only 18 votes and the most important being Jay Seegmiller who lost to the current Speaker of the House Greg Curtis by 20 votes.  

Now you may not know 100 people who should have voted last time but didn't, but I bet you do know one or two.  Imagine if you and you, along with your friends and neighbors, got out and voted during this last election.  Things, such as school vouchers or lower tuition for college, could have had very different outcomes. 

Think about that and then ask yourself if your vote matters; hope to see you November 4th.

How to Vote

With a little more than two weeks until the election it should come to no surprise that there is a greater discussion of why people should vote for this person or that, now I am not going to talk about who to vote for, simply how to vote. You see many first time voters overwhelmed by the process, viewing the ballot box as a monster.  All too often potential first timers choose to simply opt out entirely from the system to avoid what they do not know.  For those of you unaware of how this all works, please allow me to explain.

Voting is a very simple process. Between now and Election Day you can choose to vote early at a variety of polling locations (to see a full list click here).  If you decide to wait until the day itself, you will need to vote at your specific polling location.  Generally these locations are within a few blocks of your home.

Polls are open from 7 AM to 8 PM and, yes, you can get out of work in order to vote.  There are a few rules, of course, you must be a full time employee and your company does not have to pay you for the time you are out.

Once you arrive you your location you will have to check in with the nice people at the front desk.  You simply state your name and they check you off the list.  If, for whatever reason, you do not appear on their list you can ask for what is known as a provisional ballot.

Provisional ballots are given to those who may have made an error on their voter registration, went to the wrong polling location, or for those who had someone screw up at the county clerks office.  In any case, you will have to fill out a little extra paperwork just to make sure you are not trying to cheat the system and vote twice.

After all of this is said and done, you will be handed a data card and be allowed to vote.  You will insert the card into the machine and be able to choose the candidates you wish to win.  

At every stage you will be given the option of either writing in a candidate or (and this is very important) skipping over a particular race if you feel you are not very well versed in that particular campaign.  If you skip one race your ballot is still valid.

Once you have gone through all of your choices, you will have the option to review and submit your ballot.  The ballot is actually printed out for you so that a paper trail is created. If something is not right, you will have the option to change your vote.  But remember, once you hit submit, it is all over – no take backs – so make sure you are happy with who you voted for.

Assuming there is no line, this should take less than five minutes out of your life.  You did your civic duty, and you even get a cool sticker out of it!

Canvas in the Snow

Foul winter...back off!!! YDU will send Lisa Johnson the the Legislature, snow or no snow!

100 Days!

We have endured 2,822 days of the Bush administation, but now we have one hundered days until we close a sad chapter in U.S. history.

Hang in there people, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

(Please don't vote for John McCain - I don't want to be doing a post similar to this in four years.)

- Curtis Haring