if you see him around town on election day, please don't throw anything at him. he worked hard rigging up that contraption (which he lovingly calls "THE PROTESTINATOR".)
ray feels strongly that there should be no law prohibiting write-ins on our ballots. (currently, write-in votes cast for a candidate who has not gathered signatures and petitioned the board of elections will be thrown away. if a write-in candidate happens to receive a majority of the vote, but hasn't properly petitioned, he's out of luck.) if you're interested beyond that brief explanation, you should contact ray directly. he'll be glad to chat you up about the issue, believe you me.
i told ray tonight that i don't always agree with his politics, but i always admire his tenacity. he's planning on visiting as many elections sites tomorrow as he can.
visit ray's website if you're interested in finding out what other issues he's passionate about. (or at least the issues he was passionate about in 2004, when we built that website around his last campaign for office.)
now GO VOTE! (though if you choose to write in a name, make sure it's going to count before you throw your vote away.)
Posted by xta at November 7, 2006 12:13 AM | TrackBackThat sign contraption is awesome. He should patent it. Or at least claim he patented it.
Posted by: marie at November 7, 2006 12:45 AMi stole both the idea and the name from the guy who made this one i borrowed at a protest two years ago. the big local station in raleigh refused to invited BALLOTTED Libertarian Barbara Howe to the GUBERNATORIAL debate:
http://governyourself.com/gifs/protestinator.jpg
thanks for the publicity, girlfriend! but, vote as you please even if you know they will throw it away! if one person is silenced, no one speaks freely.
Of many electoral disgraces in NC, the disenfranchisement of votes for write-in candidates is possibly the most disgraceful.
Go Ray!
Posted by: Sarah at November 7, 2006 09:54 AMI worked the polls as a precinct judge in Durham in 1994 (yeah, THAT election), and honestly, it would have been more fun to do the final count if there had been some write-ins. It's pretty tedious otherwise.
Find out how to become a precinct judge--they pay you a little, it's one full day out of your life plus a few hours' training, but it's a good way to take some little part in assuring the fairness of some voters' participation, anyway.
Posted by: Penny at November 7, 2006 03:18 PMI find that the older I get, the less I vote FOR people and the more I vote AGAINST people.
I think that's just old age and bitterness, eh?
I did enjoy voting today.......not that it matters in this damn republican state......
Posted by: Gidge at November 7, 2006 06:34 PMGo Ray! Ballot access is just one of the ways that democracy is seriously inhibited in the US right now, but it's an important one.
Posted by: Ruby Sinreich at November 28, 2006 11:32 PM