Monks Jazz Club
Make Voting Easier
RECEIVED Mon., March 15, 2004
Dear Editor,
There must be a huge untapped demographic of possible voters who would probably vote if the process were just a little more enabled.
If you're like me, you care about government in a general way, want to follow politics, but somehow never find the time. I know I should stay abreast of our candidates and democratic responsibilities, but realistically, even the most conscientious of us relegate voting to the list of necessary errands such as submitting our income taxes and updating our will.
Today I realized that I had procrastinated right past the early-voting opportunities and found myself sitting squarely in the midst of party primary Election Day. I am a registered voter (I'm not completely out of touch), so I queried a popular search engine for "where to vote in Austin, Texas" and hit some pretty irrelevant links ... nothing tangible on the local news sites, and the Austin American-Statesman site requires an uncomfortably detailed registration.
In desperation, I finally found my way to the Travis County Voter Registration Web site, and managed to locate my voting place by first verifying my registration (a four-step process, resulting in at least two 404 errors), then determining my precinct number, and finally determining the "polling place" by precinct number. (Why do they call it a "polling place"? I'm not taking a poll. I'm voting.)
I acknowledge that I was only able to do this because I have no other tasks at work today, and freely access the Internet due to the relaxed work environment that I currently enjoy. I'm quite sure that doesn't apply to every last-minute voter!
Since politics, like retail, are market driven, I suggest candidates who wish to target undecided or last-minute voters plaster the cybertown with a simple online link designed to enable the lunchtime voting errand in three easy steps.
There must be a huge untapped demographic of possible voters who would probably vote if the process were just a little more enabled.
If you're like me, you care about government in a general way, want to follow politics, but somehow never find the time. I know I should stay abreast of our candidates and democratic responsibilities, but realistically, even the most conscientious of us relegate voting to the list of necessary errands such as submitting our income taxes and updating our will.
Today I realized that I had procrastinated right past the early-voting opportunities and found myself sitting squarely in the midst of party primary Election Day. I am a registered voter (I'm not completely out of touch), so I queried a popular search engine for "where to vote in Austin, Texas" and hit some pretty irrelevant links ... nothing tangible on the local news sites, and the Austin American-Statesman site requires an uncomfortably detailed registration.
In desperation, I finally found my way to the Travis County Voter Registration Web site, and managed to locate my voting place by first verifying my registration (a four-step process, resulting in at least two 404 errors), then determining my precinct number, and finally determining the "polling place" by precinct number. (Why do they call it a "polling place"? I'm not taking a poll. I'm voting.)
I acknowledge that I was only able to do this because I have no other tasks at work today, and freely access the Internet due to the relaxed work environment that I currently enjoy. I'm quite sure that doesn't apply to every last-minute voter!
Since politics, like retail, are market driven, I suggest candidates who wish to target undecided or last-minute voters plaster the cybertown with a simple online link designed to enable the lunchtime voting errand in three easy steps.
Alison Cowden
