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Monday, November 03, 2008

Have You Read Your Ballot Yet?

I received my voter information the other day and read through to discover two things that I previously wasn't 100% clear on.

Question 1:

This question is asking you the citizens of Maryland to allow early voting.
I believe that if we vote to have this instituted we are only asking for trouble. Trouble like they have seen in 14 different states that do allow it.
Election Day is election day period.
If you are in the service, or in a long term care facility, then I believe you should be qualified for an absentee ballot, but these should be the only reasons that one would qualify.
I have personally seen the corruption of absentee ballots, and over the last few weeks the corruptive ability of these ballots has been witnessed by the rest of the country.
Look the US goes into other countries to ensure that they have fair elections.
There is no reason why we can't conduct one of our own.
I would actually rather see the kind of voting that we provide for other countries for this election, because I am not so sure that it will be anywhere near accurate.
In other countries the if you want to vote with assistance of the US, you go to the polling place and stick your finger in cup of ink that doesn't come off for 72 hours, and your seal your vote with your finger print. No ID, no provisional ballots, no BS. You either have the ink on your finger or you don't and they can also use the blue light on it to see if there is any residue.
It is my personal opinion that all of the states that are in question this year should be polled in this very manner. If not, I believe that not one American will be satified with the outcome of the election, no matter who wins.

Question 2:

Slot machines. What I don't like about this question is the states ability to decide what regions receive them and what regions don't.
I believe in the free market and if a businessman feels he could make a good business in an area, I don't think it is up to the state to decide. I believe it is up to the community where he wishes to locate.
Look, Maryland has ZERO natural resources for exploitation, and there is nothing to support the huge bureaucracy that we know as our state. They are going to look endlessly for ways to support themselves, because they certainly never consider shrinking their size. The state always packages anything controversial by saying the proceeds will go to the kids, but it isn't long before they outgrow the proceeds and profits from any program they have set up and they look for something else.
I remember as a child when casino's lined the 301 corridor in Charles County. Charles was prosperous and everyone benefited from the casino's. Names that you see in Vegas lined the corridor, the Sands, the Desert Inn, the Stardust, the Flamingo, but they are long gone.
After they were done away with it took nearly 30 years for Charles to recover. The casino's sat empty and tumbleweeds blew across the highway. Now that it has recovered it is quickly going into another recession as the casino replacements have been retail outlets that are now closing up almost as quickly.
What would happen to Pocomoke City, if a River Boat Casino were allowed to tie up at our dock?
I personally believe, that it would give the downtown the economic shot that it needs. With a casino, there would be a reason to have outlets for all the other creature comforts people want and need, all without costing the town or the state a dime.
People are going to gamble and do things that aren't necessarily the best thing for them, there is no reason to send the money to DE when we can have it here.
In closing I don't mind the slots, I mind the state interference.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You loon. What do you mean "Maryland has ZERO natural resources. . . "
Instead of a riverboat casino in Pocomoke, how about promoting the waterways for kayaking, canoeing, etc? That's a great area for hiking thru the woods, etc. If Eco-tourism is so hot everywhere else, what happened to the Eastern Shore???

Anonymous said...

Check out our natural gas supplies.

Anonymous said...

Eco-tourism is not all that hot. people just don't care about the enviroment. Every time i've been hiking or kayaking there is trash. And What so eco about that? Leaving the eviroment looking like crap. The Eastern Shore has failed because of all of these dang development and developers

Anonymous said...

WOW! Joe isn't sure of something... more like... let me (once again) speak my unbiased thoughts for all to read.

Anonymous said...

Joe didn't write this, you fool. Look again.

Wymzie said...

I am talking about exploitable natural resources!
For the amount of people that populate this state we do not have enough natural resources to sustain us let alone export and sell to others.
I am talking big picture here...
Do we have huge oil reserves?
Natural gas?
Coal?
We are one of the highest taxed states in the union, because we have nothing from which to draw down from.
Our Bay and rivers have been completely exploited, and polluted. Tree farming just doesn't cut it.
We do have wind, and that is certainly something that should be explored and utilized, but it has not until recently.
While eco-tourism is nice, it is not the type of foundational resource of which I speak. Millions of dollars have been spent on promoting this, but it is just not generating the types of revenues that were expected.
We do have some natural gas, but it is not to the level of sustainability such as those in western states.

Anonymous said...

absentee ballots are also used by college students who are away at school and unable to make it home on election day.

Wymzie said...

My kids came home to vote

Anonymous said...

As far as slots the Republicans have tried to get the green light on them for years and all we heard from the Democraps was it was a bad idea. People would become addicted, they would use their rent money on slots yadda yadda yadda. Now all of a sudden they are all for the slots. It wasn't so many years ago they told us they were going to raise the price on our Tags at DMV so they could fund the Helicopters for the state police. Someone remind me again how OLD those are? Where is ALL that money going?
As far as the absentee ballots, I have mixed feelings about that. The military should be allowed my concern lies in the the long term care facilities. I dont see how we could stop the voter fraud. If someone isn't really able to vote whats to say their vote wont be going to someone their care giver has chosen not who they would have wanted. I see a problem there I just dont know a solution.

Chimera said...

Despite the naysayers,I see no problem with slots-after all,we already have people spending money they cannot afford to wager bets(Md Lottery)

Bob said...

I think the idea of legalizing ALL types of gaming is a good one. I don't care what party you're affiliated with. The republicans thought slots were a good idea when Ehrlich was Gov. and the dems opposed them. Now that the dems want to legalize slots the dems think it's a good idea and the repubs oppose them. This is a bunch of bullsh*t. The partisan politics is so thick anymore that the people can't get anything done. Govt. IS the reason things are messed up everywhere. Legalize gaming statewide and let the people decide through their local elected officials where gaming should be permitted by special zoning districts.

Anonymous said...

My problem with question 1 is this- "allow qualified voters to vote at polling places in or outside the voters’ election districts or wards"

What is to stop someone from walking into a polling place in Baltimore and saying they are me? Since there seems to be no rule requiring ID (I've never been asked for one) Whats to stop someone from getting a list of registered voters and having "volunteers" (a la ACORN) vote using fake identities. Unless polling places REQUIRE ID for voting outside your appointed precinct, I say no on Question 1.

Bryan Fykes