Really. Not to keep people from voting multiple times – no reason to put those guys who cross your name off the voting rolls out of work – but as way to promote voting.
I’m sure you watched news coverage of the elections in Iraq yesterday, and saw all the people so proud to show off their stained fingers. Despite threats and actual violence, despite having to walk miles to get there and stand in lines, despite the possibility of backlash against them in the future: millions of them of them turned up and voted and were rightly proud to show that off.
In contrast, here in America…well, we all know.
By using the finger stain, for the rest of the day you act as a reminder/prod to those around you. You walk around silently saying “Yes, today IS election day. Yes, I found the time to vote. Yes, I am a responsible citizen. Yes, I care about the future of this country enough to overcome the really minimal effort voting requires.” And with a very loud though unspoken, “And what about you?”
Sure, it won’t cause all non-voters to change their ways, but I think it would have an effect. Especially on those only just old enough to vote, many of whom have the attitude that voting isn’t cool. Well, what if they saw that their favorite athletes/actors/singers/whatever have purple fingers that day? I mean, sure, a lot of celebs have talked up voting, but that’s just talk. Showing that they actually DID vote would have more impact, I think.
ooh. Stray memory. Remember how Catholics used to get smudges of ashes on Ash Wednesday? I’m a non-Caholic who grew up around Boston. It made an amazing impact each year to see how many people were Catholic and proud to stand up and basically announce the fact.
No. You did?? I’m so jealous.
Actually, I don’t think a pin would be as good. You’d have to choose to wear the pin, so many people would think that was deliberately showing off or something, and so they wouldn’t. Having a finger dyed blue for a day, well, that would just happened, so people wouldn’t worry over whether to show it.
Really? When I was a schoolgirl it was like 2 out 3 kids had the smudges. Now, mumble years later, I don’t think I saw a single one the past few years.
Of course, I now live in a different area. Maybe there just aren’t all that many RCs here.
Step one is to fix the electronic ballots to be tamper proof and to produce paper verification. Staining fingers that press buttons on crooked machines is a wee bit like arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Now now, we pollworkers always shove little pieces of paper under the corners of the Big Gray Hulkin’ Shoup Machines o’ Freedom so that they are never, ever crooked.
I’ve voted in two states in four different cities and never got a piece of paper or sticker or lollipop or anything.
Hmmm…staining the fingers would be a little more work for us but most elections we don’t have tons of people anyway. But I bet in this litigious society we’d have other problems: “This ink stained my blouse! I’m suing!” “This ink made me break out in a rash! I’m suing!” “My baby licked my finger with the ink on it! I’m suing!” “I’m an Orthodox Jew and we’re not supposed to get tattoos! I’m being disenfranchised and I’m suing!” “What about people with no fingers? I’m suing!” “It’s supposed to be a secret ballot! I’m suing!” and so on.
We don’t get “I Voted” stickers in Chicago. Pisses me off. I’ve always gotten them everywhere else I lived. We get a stupid piece of paper proving we’ve voted. I clipped mine to my cube on 11/2, but was still jealous of the people at work who live in other cities and did have stickers.
Note on the ashes: I’d never seen anyone wearing ashes until just a couple years ago!
Never seen an “I voted sticker” before either. Yes, Catholics still get ashe’s on their forheads if they attend mass on Ash Wednesday…least my wife still does (I haven’t been near a church in years, though I’m nominally still Catholic).
As for the ink…I think its a great idea, if you made it mandatory. Besides being a great symbol, I think it would piss off some unknown but high number of people…something I’m always in favor of.
You’d need to show that this was more than a background noise problem, and that it seriously effected the election process. To me its not so much a ‘rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic’ thing as a ‘mountains out of mole hills’ deal, or ‘can’t see the trees for the forest’ thing.
CAN you show that this is a serious problem and that it had a fundamental effect on the most recent election (since thats what you are talking about)? I mean, real proof of course, not bullshit and conjecture…because I’ve still never seen anything but the latter with reguard to election fraud in the last election.
I HAVE seen real evidence of past election fraud in the US, especially at the local levels, but they were mostly Democrats so probably don’t count.
I’ve always gotten a little “I Voted!” sticker, and I always wear it, too.
I think the finger-staining idea is pretty cool, but as Mehitabel said, I can think of lots of reasons people wouldn’t want it.
“It made me itch! I’m sueing!”
“Vote here! New improved ink! Now with aloe!”
And I get ashes on Ash Wednesday, too, but I’m Lutheran, not Catholic.
Ashes, not just for Catholics anymore.
We got the stickers here in Cleveland, I wore mine proudly.
The finger strining seems to be something that’s done in developing nations; I thnnk India does the same, even with electronic voting.
Growing up in Buffalo, I was commonly chastised, if not called out, for not having ashes on my head during Ash Wednesday. “Why don’cha hee-ahve ee-EAH-shes on your forehead like you’re supposed ta’?” (I’m not Catholic.)
