A recent trend in elections is pollwatching. Usually performed by the hardcore party activists, pollwatching is one part get out the vote, one part Columbo, and one part paranoid delusional.
We use pollwatching in our GOTV activism by calling those who haven't yet voted throughout election day for maximum annoyance levels, but that's really just a cover for their actual job - watching the polling places for fraud (where Columbo and Jerry Fletcher meet.)
That we send volunteers to be on the lookout for fraudulent voting practices - or, in the case of statewide and national races, platoons of election lawyers - is an indictment of our political process. Idealists like Joel and I hope the day will come in our political careers when this is no longer a necessary process, but as a practical matter, as the political stakes get higher, it likely will not.
No comments:
Post a Comment