apathetic voters wooed with cash
Is this a good idea or not?
Ariz. Ballot Measure Would Give $1M To Lucky Voter
May 23, 2006
PHOENIX -- An Arizona man is betting that a chance at $1 million will bring more people to the polls.
Dr. Mark Osterloh is a Tucson, Ariz., ophthalmologist and political activist who headed and bankrolled the campaign to get a proposal on the state's November ballot that would give one lucky voter $1 million. Under the proposal, anyone who actually casts a ballot would be eligible.
Osterloh and other supporters submitted petitions Monday bearing what they said were more than 185,000 signatures of registered voters. That's well over the 122,000 required to put a proposed state law on the 2006 ballot.
Osterloh said the money would come from unclaimed lottery winnings.
Elections officials will check the petition signatures to see whether enough are valid to qualify the measure for the ballot.
posted by Evil Genius @ 11:09 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
It's sad. There was a time in our history when people would give up their lives for the right to vote in free elections. And now we have to motivate people with money to perform that civic duty. People don't really appreciate things until they are gone.
its disgusting. people in other countries walk for days and risk getting shot or arrested just to vote. yet here in this "amazing land of the free democracy" we sposedly live in, so few of us actually get off our fat azzes and go down the street for the 10 minutes it takes to vote. of course, maybe thats part of the plan... just like eliminating the voice of thousands of young black men b/c somehow along the way we decided to prevent convicted felons from being able to vote - even if they did their damn time - and oh, how convenient that so many of these black men are convicted of selling crack, a drug that the glorious Ollie North and Mr. fucknut Reagan distributed in order to finance their little iran-contra affar.
ugh i am so sickened and disgusted with all this carryin on about how great we are and yet we are so fu*ked.
The real question is, why don't Americans vote? Saying Americans are fat and lazy is too facile. The system here practically screams at the average voter that your vote doesn't matter. Only two parties whose candidates are appointed by those with money and who are not chosen by majority rule running in districts drawn to be uncompetitive. Ours is among the least democratic systems in the world. Honestly, here in my district, it's a foregone conclusions who will be my representatives at every level in the next election. So tell me, why should I vote? They don't even give us the day off like they do in other countries.
I still vote -- because I want my leaders to remember I care when they look at their poll numbers -- but I understand why so many people don't. It's just not like this in most other countries.
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