Comments On My Stupid Ballot

[Madeline]

Meh, I am allowed to vote by mail so I do. I'm gonna be manning a polling station for a candidate on voting day, and that's enough standing/waiting/interacting with my fellow man for me. So I have the Ohio/Cuyahoga County ballot now and I have noticed a few stupid things about it.

* It has been translated into Spanish. The DOJ threatened to sue Cuyahoga County if it they refused, so they caved. Why, you ask?

Frost said the Justice Department's analysis showed the county has 34,000 people of Puerto Rican descent, 12,000 of them educated in Puerto Rican schools and now of voting age.

How much did this cost, you ask?

Bilingual ballots will cost the county more than $400,000 for every page the Spanish translation of issues adds to the ballot. Under the current voting system, the increase is likely a page or two, if any.

Cuyahoga elections board agrees to limited bilingual ballots this year, countywide next year | cleveland.com

And that's not counting the salaries of every County or DOJ professional who frittered away time on this bullshit issue. I bet if I were voting on a Spanish ballot, I could tell who the candidates for Governor were. Governor = Gobernador. Gee, what're the odds? This change lengthened the ballot to two pages (guess how many handling errors that'll cause?) and this without any initiatives on it. Government sux sometimes.

Here's the other oddball thing: any political science major will tell you, the position of a candidate's name is important -- the first position will get more votes just by accident. But on my ballot, the positions are scrambled; the candidates for Governor lead off with the Green Party guy, the one for Attorney General has the Libertarian Party guy first, etc. If a voter locates his choice on the first candidate and assumes the arrangement is the same all over the ballot, his intent will be defeated.

Lastly, even though Ohio has finally agreed to allow judicial candidates to post their party affiliations, they are not on the ballot. You might feel judge races are unimportant, but two Common Pleas judges are now under indictment here in a corruption scandal that's been rocking this area for years. I think the Democrats, who are still in office, may have declined to identify their candidates to help shield them from public outrage. If so, and a Republican judge loses in a close race I hope he sues for a new election.

All in all, my advice is if you are going to stand on line to vote November 2nd, get a copy of your ballot in advance and read it carefully....there are mebbe some surprises in it.

 

[The Rabbi]

They had to print instructions in Spanish so the illegals would know how to vote.
This is what America great, Democratic voter fraud.

 

[Madeline]

They had to print instructions in Spanish so the illegals would know how to vote.
This is what America great, Democratic voter fraud.

Everyone thinks that, The Rabbi. The Puerto Ricans who live here never approached the County registrar and requested this. It's just so fucking underhanded.

Cuyahoga County is a big heaping pile of corruption and DOJ has nothing better to do than trot out a 1965 law so they can piss and moan about our ballots are not in Spanish? Give me a break.

 

[Madeline]

One last comment on my stupid ballot. About half the judicial races have candidates who are running unopposed. These people are almost certainly Democrats; in any event, they are not Republicans as they are not listed on the RPCC website as endorsed.

We do a whole lot of bitching on here, and it's all good. But yanno, the ultimate commitment to politics is offering yourself up as a candidate. If you are dissatisfied with the field that your party slated, consider contacting them and asking what it would take for them to consider you in the next election cycle. Obviously you have to be a lawyer to be a judge...but anyone with a respectable background could be a candidate for a local office.

Just a thought. Happy voting!

 

[Baruch Menachem]

San Francisco ballots were printed in four languages (English, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish) back when I lived there in the early 80s


they also used the punch cards that Palm Beach County made famous back in 2000.


Peurto Ricans are not illegals, and they don't speak english down there. We could kick them loose, maybe. Then they would be.

 

[Madeline]

I fully support independence for Puerto Rico, Baruck. As for voting, I say we bring back the old machines with party-based levers. One pull, and you have voted the straight Republican (or Democrat, or Green, or Libertarian) ticket.

I've never actually seen such a machine IRL, though. I have always voted on paper ballots, with punch pins or bubbles you color in.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

I fully support independence for Puerto Rico, Baruck. As for voting, I say we bring back the old machines with party-based levers. One pull, and you have voted the straight Republican (or Democrat, or Green, or Libertarian) ticket.

I've never actually seen such a machine IRL, though. I have always voted on paper ballots, with punch pins or bubbles you color in.

New York had the lever machines until this year, now we've got scantron bubble sheets.

I miss the "chunka" sound the old machines made when you pulled the lever across.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Then why not Swedish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Canadian (ha ha), Slavic, Farsi, Arabic, Celtic, etc.? Why just Spanish? Why is it just the Mexicans that can't learn the language?

Oh, wait, I can answer that... because they are the numero uno group of illegal immigrants and must be catered to for votes!
Fuck 'em.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

In SF, Chinese and Japanese are there.

I think here in Multnomah County, the Vietnamese would have a better claim than the Hispanics. In Washington County, it would be different.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

If you can't read or speak the language, how informed a voter can one be?

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

In SF, Chinese and Japanese are there.

I think here in Multnomah County, the Vietnamese would have a better claim than the Hispanics. In Washington County, it would be different.

Love San Fran.... Used to frequent a dive called the Fiddlers Green and La Bodega on Grant... great Spanish food.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Then why not Swedish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Canadian (ha ha), Slavic, Farsi, Arabic, Celtic, etc.? Why just Spanish? Why is it just the Mexicans that can't learn the language?

Oh, wait, I can answer that... because they are the numero uno group of illegal immigrants and must be catered to for votes!
Fuck 'em.

Or perhaps it's because they're the largest group of legal immigrants as well. Why do you guys assume that Spanish speakers are all illegal immigrants?

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

I remember the Eagle's Nest on Pier 39 when it was still a local haunt. Now it is all touristy.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Then why not Swedish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Canadian (ha ha), Slavic, Farsi, Arabic, Celtic, etc.? Why just Spanish? Why is it just the Mexicans that can't learn the language?

Oh, wait, I can answer that... because they are the numero uno group of illegal immigrants and must be catered to for votes!
Fuck 'em.

Or perhaps it's because they're the largest group of legal immigrants as well. Why do you guys assume that Spanish speakers are all illegal immigrants?

If you went to all the trouble to get here legally, chances are real good you speak the language. They are also the largest group of illegal aliens.

 

[Madeline]

There needs to be an insular community of people who emigrated from the same place as you in order to live in the US but never learn English (unless you're a shut in cared for by your family). There might be a ginormus illegal alien population here, but I doubt it...for one thing, we have no "Spanish neighborhood". I'd be willing to bet every Puerto Rican here can read, write and speak English.

And as I said, who among could not guess the Spanish word for "governor" is "gobernador"? Isn't it fair to assume Puerto Ricans are also good guessers?

DOJ forced Cuyahoga County to piss away $400,000 to print bilingual ballots. Staffing polling places with translators likely would have been cheaper.....all for the 34,000 people of Puerto Rican descent, 12,000 of them educated in Puerto Rican schools and now of voting age believed to live here. What utter bullshit. DOJ should have funded the cost if it so freaking worried...this is less than 0.05% of the county's population! Our ballot was forced into two pages...this alone will create a higher error rate and voter confusion. Please, it just pisses me off.

Yes, I think it was done to aid illegal aliens to vote. Watch and see if Obama is not impeached over the political sheningans at the DOJ for the past two years.

 

[MaggieMae]

Meh, I am allowed to vote by mail so I do. I'm gonna be manning a polling station for a candidate on voting day, and that's enough standing/waiting/interacting with my fellow man for me. So I have the Ohio/Cuyahoga County ballot now and I have noticed a few stupid things about it.

* It has been translated into Spanish. The DOJ threatened to sue Cuyahoga County if it they refused, so they caved. Why, you ask?

Frost said the Justice Department's analysis showed the county has 34,000 people of Puerto Rican descent, 12,000 of them educated in Puerto Rican schools and now of voting age.

How much did this cost, you ask?

Bilingual ballots will cost the county more than $400,000 for every page the Spanish translation of issues adds to the ballot. Under the current voting system, the increase is likely a page or two, if any.

Cuyahoga elections board agrees to limited bilingual ballots this year, countywide next year | cleveland.com

And that's not counting the salaries of every County or DOJ professional who frittered away time on this bullshit issue. I bet if I were voting on a Spanish ballot, I could tell who the candidates for Governor were. Governor = Gobernador. Gee, what're the odds? This change lengthened the ballot to two pages (guess how many handling errors that'll cause?) and this without any initiatives on it. Government sux sometimes.

Here's the other oddball thing: any political science major will tell you, the position of a candidate's name is important -- the first position will get more votes just by accident. But on my ballot, the positions are scrambled; the candidates for Governor lead off with the Green Party guy, the one for Attorney General has the Libertarian Party guy first, etc. If a voter locates his choice on the first candidate and assumes the arrangement is the same all over the ballot, his intent will be defeated.

Lastly, even though Ohio has finally agreed to allow judicial candidates to post their party affiliations, they are not on the ballot. You might feel judge races are unimportant, but two Common Pleas judges are now under indictment here in a corruption scandal that's been rocking this area for years. I think the Democrats, who are still in office, may have declined to identify their candidates to help shield them from public outrage. If so, and a Republican judge loses in a close race I hope he sues for a new election.

All in all, my advice is if you are going to stand on line to vote November 2nd, get a copy of your ballot in advance and read it carefully....there are mebbe some surprises in it.

Interesting that Ohio is still screwing up their voting process. So who's the Secretary of State responsible THIS time?

 

[SFC Ollie]

Meh, I am allowed to vote by mail so I do. I'm gonna be manning a polling station for a candidate on voting day, and that's enough standing/waiting/interacting with my fellow man for me. So I have the Ohio/Cuyahoga County ballot now and I have noticed a few stupid things about it.

* It has been translated into Spanish. The DOJ threatened to sue Cuyahoga County if it they refused, so they caved. Why, you ask?

Frost said the Justice Department's analysis showed the county has 34,000 people of Puerto Rican descent, 12,000 of them educated in Puerto Rican schools and now of voting age.

How much did this cost, you ask?

Bilingual ballots will cost the county more than $400,000 for every page the Spanish translation of issues adds to the ballot. Under the current voting system, the increase is likely a page or two, if any.

Cuyahoga elections board agrees to limited bilingual ballots this year, countywide next year | cleveland.com

And that's not counting the salaries of every County or DOJ professional who frittered away time on this bullshit issue. I bet if I were voting on a Spanish ballot, I could tell who the candidates for Governor were. Governor = Gobernador. Gee, what're the odds? This change lengthened the ballot to two pages (guess how many handling errors that'll cause?) and this without any initiatives on it. Government sux sometimes.

Here's the other oddball thing: any political science major will tell you, the position of a candidate's name is important -- the first position will get more votes just by accident. But on my ballot, the positions are scrambled; the candidates for Governor lead off with the Green Party guy, the one for Attorney General has the Libertarian Party guy first, etc. If a voter locates his choice on the first candidate and assumes the arrangement is the same all over the ballot, his intent will be defeated.

Lastly, even though Ohio has finally agreed to allow judicial candidates to post their party affiliations, they are not on the ballot. You might feel judge races are unimportant, but two Common Pleas judges are now under indictment here in a corruption scandal that's been rocking this area for years. I think the Democrats, who are still in office, may have declined to identify their candidates to help shield them from public outrage. If so, and a Republican judge loses in a close race I hope he sues for a new election.

All in all, my advice is if you are going to stand on line to vote November 2nd, get a copy of your ballot in advance and read it carefully....there are mebbe some surprises in it.

Interesting that Ohio is still screwing up their voting process. So who's the Secretary of State responsible THIS time?

The same Democrat that allowed ACORN to register voters with a park bench as their address.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Madeline, the worst part about this is that all Puerto Ricans speak English.

"The school system is administered by the Department of Education and has several levels of learning. The language used in the schools is Spanish, however, English is taught from kindergarten to high school as part of the school curriculum. Some private schools provide English programs where all classes are conducted in English except for the Spanish class.

Puerto Rico has more than 50 institutions of higher education. Puerto Rico has achieved one of the highest college education rates in the world (6th) with 56% of its college-age students attending institutions of higher learning, according to World Bank data. "

Puerto Rico People

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Madeline, the worst part about this is that all Puerto Ricans speak English.

"The school system is administered by the Department of Education and has several levels of learning. The language used in the schools is Spanish, however, English is taught from kindergarten to high school as part of the school curriculum. Some private schools provide English programs where all classes are conducted in English except for the Spanish class.

Puerto Rico has more than 50 institutions of higher education. Puerto Rico has achieved one of the highest college education rates in the world (6th) with 56% of its college-age students attending institutions of higher learning, according to World Bank data. "

Puerto Rico People

Although I don't agree with the need for Spanish ballots, I don't think you can claim that "all Puerto Ricans speak English".. By that standard, I should speak Spanish - I took Spanish classes from 4th grade to 12th - and I can't speak a word of Spanish.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Madeline, the worst part about this is that all Puerto Ricans speak English.

"The school system is administered by the Department of Education and has several levels of learning. The language used in the schools is Spanish, however, English is taught from kindergarten to high school as part of the school curriculum. Some private schools provide English programs where all classes are conducted in English except for the Spanish class.

Puerto Rico has more than 50 institutions of higher education. Puerto Rico has achieved one of the highest college education rates in the world (6th) with 56% of its college-age students attending institutions of higher learning, according to World Bank data. "

Puerto Rico People

Although I don't agree with the need for Spanish ballots, I don't think you can claim that "all Puerto Ricans speak English".. By that standard, I should speak Spanish - I took Spanish classes from 4th grade to 12th - and I can't speak a word of Spanish.

OK There may be one or two. But you can bet they aren't living in and around Cleveland Ohio......