November 3, 2004
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… and a lot of good it did me.
Jk. Well, a little bit at least.
I just hope our President takes this opportunity to consider that by no means was it a landslide.
The country passionately expressed their voice — evident in the strong voter turnout and like 4 years ago, revealed the same result: A country divided.
It was weird seeing all the states Kerry had won, because they were mostly all the states from schools that have brought me out to speak, after seeing “BLT“. It was seeing the demographics at work in any particular state on a personal level.
A few observations though, that should be put as Propositions for ALL ballots in the next election: 1) TO UNIFORM THE BALLOTING PROCESS 2) UNIFORM THE BALLOTING LOCATION 3) AUTOMATIC REGISTRATION WITH TAX FILING/SCHOOL REGISTRATION 4) MAKE ELECTION DAY ON A 2-DAY WEEKEND.
Re: Prop #1 — For the first time since voting 4 times, I used the “Butterfly” Ballot. I’d like to think I’m a pretty sharp guy but I stood there for a good 30-40 seconds, not knowing what the heck to do. Confusing as hell. Didn’t know how to insert the thing – the illustrations were no help and didn’t demonstrate the insertion — plus as a guy, I’m not going to ask for directions. The ballots should be easy enough for a 5-year old to do. Why can’t it just be in 15-point font: John Kerry/John Edwards (Democrat) —— () – and you just fill in the bubble? We all grew up with Scan-Trons! Why so cryptic?
Re: Prop #2 — If church and state are separate, why are the polling places held in a Bible Study building or Church? Or some obscure gymnasium or Knitting Club? Why not in front a major institution, bank or supermarket?
Re: Prop #3 – Lots of people, such as my wife, didn’t even know if they were registered or not. Or what they would receive. Or how to go about doing it. For something this important, shouldn’t it be automated on say, your tax forms every year? There’s already a “Presidential Election Campaign” option to dontate $3 on there, why not add “If you would like to be registered, Check Here”. And for those who don’t have tax forms and are still in school (18-22), have it automated with their registration. If they have criminal records or aren’t citizens, obviously the computer will catch it. But for everyone who’s eligible, it’s already done and you don’t have to worry about it.
Re: Prop #4 — You saw the backup of lines on the news. Between people trying to find the place (see Prop #2) they’ve got someting called - JOBS – they’ve got to work around. A bigger window needs to be created to get everyone’s vote in — what’s the big rush in needing it to be done in less than one day? The new President doesn’t even take office until the following year.
Shouldn’t this process be simple and streamlined by now? I mean, how long have we been doing this for? For being one of the most advanced nations, I’ve seen better organized student elections for ASB President.
Well, now I’m off to Rhode Island (another Kerry state) to speak at Brown University’s Asian American History Month tomorrow, Nov 4 at 8pm in The Salomon Building, Rm 001. Come out and say ”hi” if you’re in the area!
Comments (46)
Nice picture~ lol.
I definitely hear ya – These propositions should be included in all of our ballots, dammit.
very good suggestions. the question i’d like to have answered is how do you convince non-voters that their vote counts? that’s a tough one. i see this at every election, not only for president. people don’t seem to take an interest in who represents them in the senate or house of rep.
http://www.80-20initiative.net/eo11246.html
Sigh.
so which state did u vote in?
yeah i totally feel ya on this whole election thingamabobber. It feels like there has been absolutely no progress these past 4 years.
hehe, interesting pic
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Well, my voting experience turned out to be pretty swift and easy… only took me 5 minutes to vote. Others, I’ve heard, took like a few hours. Insane.
i’m thinking of fleeing to Canada…
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CANNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAADAAAAAAAAA…..
ugh….im with lblackxrose….who else is in?
I agree…the voting process here is done way old and weird. We should all have one way to do it everywhere in this country.
They had early voting here in our county. You may want to check on that. I love that we could vote for a week. Makes it so much better for those who work and have commitments and encourages turnout.
i just spent the past 17 days working on the florida campaign in the kerry-edwards headquarters in fort lauderdale. needless to say, we gave it our all and are deflated. i definitely agree with your proposals…esp. with absentee balloting. we processed over 40,000 of them in the span of 5 days.
They allowed early voting starting Saturday in San Diego.
They automate registration in other countries, America just has a habit of complicating things especially when it comes to politics. Still can’t believe people refuse to learn from the past and from others…
Haha, my parents yelled at me for voting for Kerry. And it’s pretty sad that Indiana was one of the first states to be declared a winner for Bush.
Are you implying that your candidate didn’t win because not enough people came out to vote, or didn’t understand how the ballot worked? I heard it was the biggest turnout in 30 yrs. I consider you much too articulate to succumb to nitpicking the voting process now, after the results are in, seemingly as an adolescent tantrum because you feel that people MUST have been confused or the system must have somehow failed in order for the “wrong” candidate to be voted in. Could it instead be, that although everyone you seemingly talked to in your many travels amongst the states (Kerry states, admittingly) seem to share your political views, that people of equal and greater intelligence don’t all think the same way that you do, and that they voted accordingly? I wonder if the same gripes would have been expressed if the election produced different results. Also, for those who have said they are considering leaving the country, I would urge them to actually do so, rather than merely writing it. It reminds me of last election when Alec Baldwin said he was going to move to France if Bush won (He hasn’t moved). Aren’t you the same people who told your folks you’re running away from home when they said you couldn’t stay up and watch TV, but were still around the next morning?
Other than what was expressed in this past entry, I must say I do find the rest of your blog very interesting and enlightening. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, and good luck with you quest to change everything to scantron.
P.S. I hope you didn’t think the phrase “Separation of Church And State” appear in the US Constitution, because it does not.
too bad the republicans would never go for that..
In that case, point well stated. The system could always use improvement. Thanks Parry.
Re: tdaddie — I don’t think I implied that Kerry lost due to the complicated system of balloting we have in place, anywhere in my entry. Nor am I really upset that he lost. I’m placing a valid complaint about the voting system period, regardless of who won. For something so important, the system really makes you have to jump through hoops. It seems very antiquated and not user friendly and it can be streamlined to make it things easier. That’s what those 4 propositions refer to.
I totally agree with you about making elections a 2-day weekend, or at least have a larger window of time because my work shift is 12:30pm-9pm and with the polls only open from 6am-8pm, that means that i would have to wake up earlier from work in order to vote.(since i am a night shift person i dont wake up til about 10am routinely). I was at the polls, in line, waiting at 10:30AM. There were so many people there and only four machines….and then when it started to rain, everyone that didn’t have an umbrella went inside the fire station and the ones that had umbrellas had to stand outside in the storming rain–and I had an umbrella. I got rained on but the wait was so long that my scrubs dried up by the time i got out. I didn’t get out of there until 2:00pm–needless to say, I missed 2 hours of work. I wouldn’t have been able to vote after work either. Even if I would have gone at 6am it would have been just as long because my dad was there at 6am and he didnt get out til 9am. It was such a horrible mess there that during the course of my wait, TWO, you got it, TWO different news reporters with cameras and all went out there and did reports on the mess.
O_O Very hot picture, Parry…
NOOOOOOO!! MY VOTE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING PRESIDENTIALLY!!
Oh well. 4 more years!
Most definately.
To avoid all this mess in the lines, you can request an absentee ballot permanently; you can send in your vote earlier and not have to go to the polls. I do agree with you about changing locations of the polls from someone’s garage to a bigger institution. With the new ballot processing systems and electronic voting, I think it is important to have polling places that support this new technology that facilitates the voting process. Improvements to the voting process is underway, considering how much it has improved since the last election. By 2008, I hope to see more improvements, especially to acommodate high voter turnout.
Hahaa, very flattering picture Parry. And thanks for commenting on my xanga, that really made my day. (Needless to say the election results were pretty depressing… I’m glad that most people feel this way.)
And I couldn’t agree with you more regarding your four propositions. Why don’t you run for president?
-Sara
My parents are puzzled that I voted for Bush (they voted for Kerry). Nor did many of my co-workers (I do work in the entertainment industry like you do).
I voted touchscreen in LA County, and over the weekend. There were no lines.
disappointed to say the least. i dont understand voting is the same across the states anyway, any why would it take so long? if it isnt held in a larger area, why not have MORE areas that you can vote at? in boston, we had the scantron, and then you can slide it in the machine when you are done. there should be more covered desks that ppl could vote at to diminish the lines.
and the one day voting is really dumb too. isnt voting the most important thing we can do as a citizen? and it is so half assed.
amen to that. –i had to vote at a church! a lot of my friends (students) about how there isn’t a place to vote ON CAMPUS. some of us have classes to attend and considering how college campuses are so huge…you’d think they would make room. yack.
hey alfred wong, historian
as a canadian, i watched your election with anticipation like it was my own own. your system is sooo confusing! i really wonder what your ballot looks like, then! not touting that canada doesn’t have its faults, but i think the american system can learn from ours.
LMAO omg Great pic!!!!
Hi Perry… you’re married? I did not know that… Are you for real? Don’t dislike me for being skeptical. But you are one of my favorite asian stars… well maybe the only. haha.
Technically you can put the props on the ballot. In CA, you don’t have to go to the legislature. You just have to get enough people to sign your petition, and the props go straight to the ballot.
I don’t see voting in a church as bad. It’s a place where lots of people go anyway. If the church were the main place you could vote, that might be weird, but you can also vote at people’s houses and college dorms (at NYU at least).
Canada–that’s all I’m going to say.
so true, so true, you would think that as big of an ego our country has, that they would live and learn…and fix the way elections are done. At least you don’t live in a state where a man with obvious mental health problems is re-elected to Senate. *sigh*-caileadair
[[random browsing]] haha nice pic. Propz XD
don’t go to rhode island. come to san francisco! =D
I’m pretty sure you got this 5 million times, but are you the guy from Better Luck Tomorrow?
Right?
kerry won in hawaii… not by a landslide (like 53% or something), but still…. he won. bush sucks. oh well. love the picture! you’re so dope parry ^_^
oh and one more thought… there are three types of people that voted…. those who were totally for bush, those who were totally for kerry, and those who weren’t really sure (like my mom)……… unfortuanately, those who weren’t really sure went ahead and voted anyway (like my mom), and the general consensus is that they voted for bush (like my mom.. argh!) because we are in the middle of a war, and it’s not thought of as a good idea to change presidents in the middle of a war…. like abraham lincoln said to get re-elected… “don’t change horses in the middle of the stream…”……..
yea. i voted for kerry anyway. bleh. politics give me a headache…. =p
A country Divided??
I think the real views haven’t been brought to the South!
Or those “Cowboy” states.
Only Hollywood and the terrorized new york were against bush, hence for Kerry.
I think it’s funny how D.C. gave Kerry 90% of the popular vote. Irony. UNDER THAT IRON FIST!!
scan-trons. hehe.
random props.
i doubt you’ll read this because this is so far down on the page and im like the 3914982347th person to comment, but in case u do… thanks so much for visiting Brown tonite. it was really inspirational and u were so down to earth and very relatable.
I vanna sticker!
Thanks for talking to us Brown kids last night, Parry. It was really an eye opening experience and something I felt was definitely valuable to us. Good luck to you in all your future endeavors. =) I’ll be on the look out for your next release.
i miss you mr. parry shen
and no, i did not dress as plastic man this past Halloween. i dressed as Eric Draven…from the CROW
The election was fixed…
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/05/voting.problems.ap/index.html
If you want to read about the history of the company Election Systems & Software Inc. and their voting machines, you should visit this website:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
i wanted a kerry win. *sigh*
props.