Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.
OK, everyone; take a deep breath. Now try it again.
Good. Doesn’t that feel better?
So let’s review, shall we? The election’s over except for the recriminations and the bleating from the Rabid Right, who will undoubtedly be looking for scapegoats. Hey, you don’t expect anyone on the far right edge of the political spectrum to take responsibility for their defeats, do you?
I do have one question: Why is no other state (besides Washington) taking a cue from Oregon? Here in the Beaver State, we vote by mail. No voter suppression, no long lines, no running out of ballots, no Tea Party wackjobs lurking at voting sites and acting like poll watchers charged with protecting democracy. I mailed my ballot last week. I voted in a Chinese restaurant in Portland, accompanied by a few friends and an order of pepper-salted tofu and onions. It was painless, easy, and I didn’t have to inconvenience myself to do it. So why don’t states like Floriduh and Ohio, both known for Election Days that resemble a Chinese fire drill, vote by mail? It’s cost-effective and it encourages a high voter turnout…and perhaps that’s the problem. In an era when Republicans are focused on cheating and gaming the system because they can’t win on the strength of their ideas, voting by mail probably doesn’t fit with their strategy. So in 2016, Ohio and Florida will probably be much the same as it has been this election cycle…an exercise in suppressing voter turnout and unbridled, antidemocratic chaos.
The 2016 election season will likely look a lot different. States with Republican-controlled legislatures will have adequate time to pass Voter ID laws that will manage to disenfranchise significant numbers of Americans (minorities and the poor) who don’t vote the “right” way. Voting will become harder, so it’s quite possible that decisions ALL Americans of voting age should be making will be made by significant smaller numbers. How, or even if, this will reshape the political landscape remains to be seen. Nonetheless, much of what happens during the campaign seasons of 2014 and 2016 will take place largely outside the notice of the national media.
The good news is that Allen West, Todd Akin, and Richard Mourdock lost. The bad news is that Michelle Bachmann won, and Paul Ryan retained his seat in Congress despite losing his national race. I’ll leave the parsing of those results to minds more nimble than my own, but I’m guessing similar silliness, different faces.
Now the real work begins…or not. Stay tuned….
