“trust the process”

As the banners come down in Waterbury and the campaign offices close, we have a new Mayor-elect in Paul Pernerewski. Paul will be replacing outgoing Mayor O’leary who served 11 years without suffering the fates of former Waterbury Mayors ( jail-time). The Brass City has had its fair share of scandals in office, but the City of Bridgeport has taken the mantle for political scandals this year with the ” Bogus Ballots ” stuffed into ballot boxes in Bridgeport in favor for current Mayor Ganim. There was a known supporter of Ganim caught on camera stuffing ballots into the box in Bridgeport. The challenger John Gomes lost by 175 estimated votes however, has won a new primary due to the evidence of ballot box stuffing.

how could this happen?

In Connecticut we have absentee voting, early voting, and same day registration laws in place to make voting more accessible to residents, however that has not increased voter turn out with Waterbury only having a 27% voter turnout for this past election cycle. What is seems to have done is give those looking to manipulate the system easier ways to do it. The ballot boxes are outside of most city and town halls with access 24/7. The Ganim supporter simply walked up to the box and stuffed a handful of ballots in and walk away. So the question is why do we have all these avenues to vote?

election day voting

We all can remember the day off in school every 2nd Tuesday in November growing up. In the days before the internet and the instant gratification world we have come to live in we had to go stand in line at a school, community center, or church and manually vote. We voted in the rain, snow, sleet, or hail. There were certain exemptions for those who could not physically make it in to vote and that is where mail-in voting started. Whether military services, business relocations, or medical conditions there has always been “other ways” to vote. It appears as if we may have gone to far with the exemptions.

online voting in the future?

With the entire world existing in one form or another on the internet is it too far-fetched to see a future of voting for President with the press of a button on your I-phone? As technology takes over our lives would we be comfortable with trusting the election process to an internet connection? One thing for certain is with every technological advancement the societal norms tend to change.

make Election Day a National Holiday

Would it be so hard to just make Election Day a National Holiday? All government, state, federal, local, and schools districts closed. Make public transportation free for the day ( remember covid ), shuttles to polling places, and all government closed. Eliminate all non in person voting ( with exceptions ) and eliminate early voting. This seems simple enough to ensure everyone can vote without fear of misrepresentation. That solution appears to be more far-fetched than voting on I-phones at this point with no progress on the Election Day as a National Holiday movement in the country.

isolated incident or indicative of the process?

The scandal in Bridgeport shines a light on a political problem that is becoming more headline each election cycle. We all feared the Russians and Chinese in 2016/2020 but is it our local election that the interference is the greatest? One thing for certain is if we do not protect our election process the democracy of America as we know it is over.

Should Election Day be a National Holiday? your thoughts?