Cast ballot, choose, determine, elect, enfranchise, establish, opt
I hope everyone who could vote did vote today. I could not, as I am not registered with any party. I do hope that the Democrats can get their act together and actually do something that will culminate in a presidential victory in 2008, but more than that I wish that the term “third party” would go the way of the dodo. It’s demeaning to think that a democratic country could exclude people who want to be in politics and try to make a difference. The two major parties are subsets of the same corporate faction. Call me extreme, but I must say my piece.
But that’s not what I came here to talk about, bitch. (Can’t end a sentence with a preposition!) Today saw the last of the volunteers standing around trying to get you to vote for their candidate, at least for the time being. Between them and the AMNewYork and Metro hawkers (competing free daily newspapers) it’s like running through a gauntlet just to get to the train in the morning. Each year I see these people, and I see commuters take the pamphlets being given to them, and I see the pamphlets that didn’t quite make it to the trash can on the way to the train. Nobody looks at these things. They’re there only to make the candidate’s name known.
As I was walking to my train, I realized that I had to say something, even though it wouldn’t do much of anything. I turned around (after walking down the entire stairway – far be it from me to be rude and turn around in the middle of a flood of people!) and went up to a volunteer. I asked him whether his candidate would make sure that the pamplets that were trashed would be picked up. Of course his answer was “Sure!” and he wasn’t listening to a word I was saying, but I felt a little better about having said something.
Now I know what you’re saying. How come people take the pamphlets only to drop them on the ground when there’s a trashcan 10 feet away? I ask the same question. However, it’s easier to talk to a few candidates (or their volunteers) than to talk to thousands of people on their way down to catch a train to get to a job they don’t want to do, etc.
Possible solutions? Ban political leafleting (given, with caveats, by Damek.) But (here’s the caveat) what about the first amendment? It would be difficult to ban this way of getting your name out. On the other hand, I never see anyone actually reading these pamphlets, but I do see people take a second to look at the posters all over the place. That’s where I get most of my name recognition. Now if the candidates would just get rid of these after primary day, life would be better. (NYC residents, get a marker and write on any poster you see tomorrow evening “Primary’s over – Take your stuff down!”)
Other solutions? Get the candidates to pick up the trash to which they contributed, one way or another. The MTA trashmen are already underpaid, they don’t need this on top their regular jobs. Of course, that would mean that fewer volunteers would volunteer if they knew they would have to pick up after lazy New Yorkers. But they spend hours day after day handing these things out, why not spend 20 minutes twice a week cleaning up the station where they were? Think of it as an “extra effort” you can put on your political resume.
One more! I’m aware of one candidate because she actually went out to meet people in the street. I saw her over the course of a few weekends around the neighborhood talking to a lot of people. This is only feasible if you’re not an incumbent and don’t have a job to do over the weekend, but it works. Another candidate had his volunteers register people to vote a couple of months ago. He would also be around every once in a while. This is an excellent way to get people involved. In fact, I think this is the best way to get your name out. Let people see who you are, and they’ll remember you more.
September 15th, 2005 at 9:28 pm
When I did that sort of pamphleting (and putting up flyers), we actually did pick up before we left. We don’t want voters to blame us or our candidate for making a mess. We didn’t always go into the train station, though, just the street. In theory, we took down our flyers after events too, though in practice it wasn’t systematic; I just tore them down as I happened to pass them.
I am not sure, but I think the big posters that get hung on lampposts and such may technically be considered a form of vandalism and, I think, the police do hand out tickets to the relevent campaign. I’ve never been involved in that end, so I’m not sure about that (I’ve put up posters, but never been in aposition where I’d see a ticket).