Post-Election Day Thoughts: Our Voting System

For two years, I lived in a country where corruption ran rampant. Unlike here in the US, it was poorly hidden. Elections were very obvious indicators of this. I was lucky enough to be present during a shot-gun presidential election (the then-president had died tragically in an airplane crash) as well as a parliamentary election AND a referendum. I remember hearing about scare tactics by all parties, extremely biased election judges, and constant ballot box stuffing. While it was disheartening to hear of such raging scandal in a country that I grew to love so dearly, I expected it. It was, after all, a "developing country."

I now live in Chicago, and we all know the slogan here: "Vote early, vote often!" I had my first experience with the Chicago voting system on Tuesday and was a little surprised at what I found:

I entered the Days Inn Hotel around 12:30 on Election Day, excited to take part in such an important mid-term election. As it was only my second time voting in person, I was a little nervous, but confident that I could maneuver my way around a voting booth. I stepped up to the table, voter card and ID in hand as well as a piece of mail from my current address (my drivers license still has my old 'burbs address on it). I greeted the kind-looking election judge in front of me, proudly stated my name and extended my hand to give him my voter card.

"Oh no, we don't need that. You look like an honest face," the older gentleman told me with a chuckle.

WHAT?! So, does that mean that I could have given any name of anyone that I knew who was registered to vote in my precinct as well as go to any precinct and give any name, as long as I have an honest face? I confusedly took my voter card and proceeded to rock the vote, all the while a little troubled by how easy it apparently is to screw the system.

Funnily enough, it seems as though this election faced the same voting fraud and issues as 2004. Will we hear as much ruckus about it now as we did then? Probably not. Now, don't get me wrong- I was unbelievably upset at the 2000 and 2004 outcomes and was one of the many liberal voices complaining (although, unfortunately, not doing much else to help solve the problem). Now that the election seems to have gone in favor of the Left, will there be as much of an outcry? Even there is, it doesn't seem like much is being done about it. In the end, the result was more favorable to the majority, but does that excuse all of the problems that happened on the way to getting that result?

This all begs the question that's been floating around in my head since Tuesday: Is our voting system really much better than that of the "developing countries" that we dismiss so easily?

I don't think so.