Voting from Home?

As Jay Leno likes to say "How lazy are we getting in this country!?"

The state of Hawaii just tried a totally paperless election. Voters could cast their ballots either online or over the phone. The results? Voting dropped 83% compared to the previous (same cycle) election.

As anyone who has ever worked on a campaign will tell you - turnout is always critical. That's why you always hear about campaigns that monitor things like traffic and the weather. Is it raining? That could help the challenger. Is it sunny? Bonus for the incumbent. Accident on the highway? Uh oh, not enough time to make it to the polls...

Voters can be rather fickle.

I'm always cautious about likely voter polls, especially if the primary screening criteria is based on the question of "how likely are you to vote?" Because, everyone will tell you they are voting - "don't question my devotion to my civic duty," but really much of what happens on election day depends on that person's schedule for the day. Too busy with the kids? Running late from work? Heck, if the line's long (anyone remember the Presidential Primary last year?), folks will just turn around and walk out.

I like the Hawaii attempt. I hope that the low turnout was a function of newness and lack of awareness and education of the new system. Here at home we can vote early as two weeks before the actual election day. So really, there's no excuse for any Utahn not to make it to polls.

There's much more that could be said about individual responsibility, patriotism, democracy, representation, ect... But let's face it, America has a real apathy problem.