This morning I made the futile gesture of casting a vote in the Illinois Republican primary. The State GOP has spent years destroying itself and has as much chance of winning an honest election as the opposition in Belarus does of winning a dishonest one. Not that we’re going to have to worry about an honest election, if my impressions of the new ballot system are at all correct.
I knew when I entered the polling place that a new, “high-tech” method of voting was waiting for me, but I hadn’t bothered to learn any details. I was presented with a sheet the size of, if not a bedspread, at least a large pillow: very big type and lots of white space, very disproportionate to the two contested Republican races in my precinct. I lugged it to an uncurtained stand, where, using a “special marker” that looked like it had been bought at Office Depot, I marked “X” next to my choices. I may as well tell you that they were Bill Brady for governor and Steve Rauschenberger for lieutenant governor. Any possibility of secrecy vanished when I started toward the vote-checking apparatus and was informed that an election judge had to initial my ballot first. Given its layout, there was no way that she could avoid seeing how it was marked. In fact, I noticed her eyes glancing over it (probably wondering how such a rarity as a Republican in the lavender Lakeview neighborhood would vote). That doesn’t matter in this case, but it would matter if I were a bribed elector and she a party functionary checking to make sure that I’d kept my promises.
The paper was then fed through the apparatus to ensure that I hadn’t under- or over-voted. Optionally, I could place another sheet on top so that my choices wouldn’t be visible to bystanders. Optionally. Here was the third opportunity, after the unshielded booth and the election judge’s roving eye, for my vote to be disclosed to whoever might have an interest.
Once upon a time, the secret ballot was regarded as both a foundation stone of democracy and a prophylactic against fraud. Now it isn’t even a consideration. Given that the new system is to be used in Cook County, I don’t think it cynical to suggest that the omission was not accidental, though I do wonder why, in view of the decrepit state of their opposition, the Democrats are going to the trouble to fix a sure thing.
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