One person, one vote

[yesthattom]

Uhhh.... Texas... uhhh... well... just watch.

via lawrencelessig

Comments

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Gives new meaning to the phrase "proxy vote." :-)

[crs.livejournal.com]

So, when a Republican votes on behalf of a Democrat, as they showed, do they vote the way the Dem would have voted? Have they seen anyone on camera voting once their own way, then voting the opposite way for their neighbor?

It's one thing if the rep just generates a bloc of votes by who's sitting near them and not present at the moment, it's another if they have a pile of postits that says "when this comes up, vote this way for me, wouldja, buddy?"

On the other hand, this is a bad sign for the debate that's supposed to be going on before these things.

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

I think if a rep's staff found out the member's vote had been cast the wrong way, the lazy system would fall apart. This is amusing and a little ugly, but nearly as sinister as I've ssen it portrayed over the past month.

[post-ecdysis.livejournal.com]

I agree. What the report doesn't show is what issues are being voted upon. It goes without saying that if it were the budget, some aide would blow on a whistle and all the committees would take a break so that their members could cast their votes. I think it's much probable that these votes are giving a flag that flew over the Statehouse to the third-grade class that is taking a tour right now. And in any organization I've belonged to, parliamentary procedure has allowed a single member to challenge the results of a vote and call for a more formal process; again, my bet is that the Texas legislature is no different.

Also, check to see if your state's legislature is as lax. I know that New York's was until this session -- IIRC, a member could sign in present and then their caucus leader could vote for them for the remainder of that session as long as the member didn't leave the city of Albany. Honestly, I don't know what they replaced it with, but it probably isn't chaining legislators to their seats so they are constantly available to reaffirm the bluebird as State Bird instead of attending committee meetings around the city.

[emboline.livejournal.com]

Um yeah....shocking isn't it? But that has been done all over. It reminds me of children almost.

Total B.S.

[drwex]

It's The Lege. Molly Ivins didn't make a lifetime career writing about these goons for nothing.

[sweh.livejournal.com]

To me this is as much a story of badly implemented technology as it is about "abuse".

The system should not allow people not present to vote. In 30 seconds... A simple smart card that needs to be inserted into the console to allow the voting buttons to work would be a good first step; the member puts the card in when they arrive, takes it out if they need to go for potty break, whatever, puts it back in when they return. (Yes, this causes a few issues such as "what if I lose it", but this isn't rocket science. Could even be part of the ID card they need to get in, in the first place! Smart cards).

The system as it currently stands is clearly trivially open to abuse.

[pure-agnostic.livejournal.com]

The system also allows for people to make simple errors all too easily. What if somebody pressed the wrong button? "Oops! I meant to push 'Yes' instead of 'No', can I correct my vote?"

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

People would leave their cards with colleagues, just as they now let colleagues vote for them. Unless you want fingerprint scanners or the like, you're not going to have a technological solution.

[sweh.livejournal.com]

I considered this but don't think it's much of an issue. Firstly it's less likely if the card was also their ID card. But even if they do then this can be considered a "vote by proxy" arrangement; the turning over of the voting access card is the card owner delegating their voting privilege to another authorised person. At least with the card there would be an audit trail.