Thursday, November 09, 2006

Two Kinds of People

American humorist Robert Benchley once said: "There are two kinds of people in the world: those who think there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't."

Two days after the mid-term election, it's tempting to say: "There are two kinds of people in the U.S.: those who vote and those who don't." It's accurate but misleading. After working at the polls through two election seasons, I see that there are people who don't vote and people who can't.

The "don't" camp lists many reasons. It's too much trouble. I hate waiting in line. I don't know where my precinct is. Both parties are the same. I don't trust the new voting machines. I hate asking my boss for time off.

Some just can't be bothered.

The "can't" camp is made up of those who really can't get off work and are afraid of being fired. Some are new citizens who don't understand the process. Some have been scared out of voting by pre-election robo-calls telling them they will be fined, even arrested, if they try to vote in such-and-such a precinct. Others are felons who can't vote by law and others are people who've had minor scrapes with the law and think they're not allowed to vote. Some are minorities who've experienced voter suppression, mainly by Republican operatives. Some disabled people can't make it to the polls without assistance.

The morning paper today says that the percentage of registered voters in Wyoming who actually went to the polls was down slightly from the last mid-term election in 2002. The vote total was higher by 7,844 votes.

Less than 1,000 votes (970 to be exact) separate Barbara Cubin and Gary Trauner. In WYO, if that difference is 1 percent or more, an automatic recount kicks in. But Cubin exceeded that number by 40 votes, so if Trauner wants a recount, he'll have to pay for it himself (or the state Democratic Party will have to). Just think about it. If 43 more voters had shown up in each of our 23 counties and voted for Trauner, Wyoming could have added to the Democratic majority in the U.S. House. Trauner would have been on track to make a big contribution as we go about reclaiming America. But we're stuck with Cubin, whose party is now out of power and so is she. That means WYO loses.

You could look at it another way. I think there are 486 precincts in the state. If two more Trauner voters had shown up at each precinct, he would have won.

Votes count. John Tester won in Montana by a 3,000-vote margin. James Webb had a 7,000 vote advantage in Virginia. That's 10,000 votes. What if those people had been too lazy to go to the polls?

When it comes to the national picture, we're not talking about "what might have been." The Dems have control of both houses of Congress. We're just talking about "what might have been" in Wyoming. A smart, hard-working Dem as our sole U.S. Rep, instead of Cubin, who basically inherited the seat from the current Veep and Dark Lord, Dick Cheney.

How sweet that would have been to claim a win.



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