Make Time
to Vote
By
Ronald Williams, Jr., 10/07/08
Abraham Lincoln said democracy is a "government of the people,
by the people and for the people." If I interpret correctly that
means that the government is here to serve the masses. Elected
officials make all sorts of decisions that can directly affect
our livelihood and each of us can think of our own examples
based on our own situation. Time to show we won't tolerate
ignorance and recklessness. I recently had the honor of
accepting a nomination as a candidate in a recent labor union
election and I didn't get enough votes to put me over the top.
Maybe next time! I don't envy the judges of elections for the
details involved in the process of keeping the integrity of the
entire electoral procedures. I'm sure on everyone's mind from
the judges, candidates, and the voters is the question of
impropriety or cheating and no one in their right mind wants to
be branded with that iron.
As a twelve hour observer on the day of the actual counting of
votes for and from multiple facilities I would have to say that
the counting was pretty tedious because approximately 2500-3500
paper votes had to be counted by hand, tallied and verified on a
makeshift board. I got tired just watching so I can only imagine
the pleasure of verifying candidates, prepping ballots, stuffing
and mailing ballots, retrieving ballots, answering phone calls,
responding to complaints, mailing duplicate ballots and
complying with all the rules and regulation set forth to
minimize any disputes or protests all the way down to the final
count and even after the election is over. From what I observed
it was all good. If you really want to answer any of your own
questions you got to make that trip to Mecca (election
headquarters) and check it out for yourself and don't forget to
bring your pillow and blanket and put your bid in for the
plushest couch because it's going to be a long day.
It's always interesting to hear the numbers of concerns that
people make about elections. Comments like there are too many
candidates, the vote is going to be split and the same guy is
going to win. There is some truth to that concept, but I also
saw one facility with seventeen candidates and a different guy
won the election. I believe the number of actual voters who
actually vote can have an impact on that. In one facility, more
than 50% of the members did not even vote which speaks volumes
in itself. In another facility approximately 75-85% of the
members voted and they had a different outcome. In many
facilities people don't get involved and they wonder why they
continue to get the same outcome.
It's not magic! There's a little bit of apathy on the part of
voters, and as the violinist warms up his tune in the
background, the excuses range from; I didn't get a ballot, I
didn't mail my envelope, I'm not a union member, the ballot is
too complicated, I don't know any of these guys, I don't like
the choices, the election is rigged, my choice never wins, we
should be able to vote right here, I don't want to mail it, it
doesn't matter, etc. The bottom line is get involved, read your
constitution, call election headquarters early in the process
and most importantly follow the directions contained on your
ballot to avoid having your vote disqualified. If we don't take
initiative we can expect "more of the same" and no one to blame
but ourselves. Act like your paycheck is on the line and that
will encourage you to weigh anchor.
As for the outcome in my own facility it was amazing to see how
two chief shop stewards rounded out the bottom of the list of
candidates in numbers of votes compared to non-steward
candidates. That speaks volumes about their credibility with the
voters. As they say, "the numbers don’t lie." Get out and vote
and make the true difference. There is definitely strength in
big numbers from a combined effort from generation X, baby
boomers, and the senior population. Together we will get the
most accurate result that will have to be an acceptable
consensus to the majority of voters. Hopefully, when it's time
to vote for President of the United States, the mother of all
elections, we will realize that it is time to execute that
solemn trust in human society and make time to vote! |
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