The Pennsylvania primary could lock up the Democratic nomination process once and for all. The campaign that Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean asked to be finished by July 1 could be over this Tuesday. Regardless of your candidate or party, you're probably like the vast majority of citizens who insist on fair elections that are open to the public for examination.
Citizens want to know that the candidate taking office is the same candidate who won a majority or a plurality of the votes. A 2006 Zogby poll of 1018 registered voters nationwide found that 92% believed that they, as citizens, have the right to witness vote counting for the election of their paid public servants.
That will not be the case in Pennsylvania any more than it was the case in Florida, Ohio, California, South Carolina, and most other primary states. Almost all states bar any real inspection of vote counting, the process that determines the election result. Even if they did allow you to watch the count, all you would see is a whirring third-rate computer system run by a private company that won't allow anyone to take a comprehensive look inside.
TradingMarkets.com has an interesting perspective on how campaigns are targeting the much-desired Pennsylvanian youth vote by going online and talking about the issues that matter to young people.
The director of the Student Public Interest Research Groups' New Voters Project said groups like hers have become more sophisticated in how they get out the vote.
"If you apply the same kind of outreach tactics to younger voters as older voters, like face-to-face contact or phone banks, it works," Jahagirdar said.
Candidates, she said, are also more actively courting the youth vote by "focusing more on issues young people care about," such as college tuition costs. And Internet sites have become more sophisticated in recent years, with blogs and quick interaction, giving the Internet generation more of a sense that the campaigns understand them.
Apparently, campaigns weren't previously aware that young people worry about issues as much as older generations do.
Even Fox News has picked up on the relationship between the youth vote and issues.
A recent rally in Northeastern Pennsylvania, home to the town of Hazleton that made English the official language of the town and attempted to ban illegal immigrants, recently had a rally to crack down on illegal immigrants.
Participants waved banners that read:
"If your culture is so great, go back," and "deport illegals."
One participant was quoted as saying:
“I thought I was in New York City,” he said. “It got me thinking. If (illegal immigrants) leave there, where will they go next? Nanticoke has cheap living. It’s not seen as a big problem yet, but we definitely have a small problem. I love this town and care about it too much to let that happen.”
Outraged by this misinformed crowd of ignorant ralliers, I wrote a letter to the editor of my local newspaper :
The participants in Nanicoke’s Voice of the People rally have an illusionary view of undocumented “illegal” immigration. They cite fear-mongering crime statistics that paint undocumented immigrants as ferocious criminals. When in reality these immigrants make every day life possible by mowing lawns, picking tomatoes, cleaning offices, washing dishes, etc. Still, opponents claim their entrance is illegal and that they should be punished. What kind of criminal breaks into property to scrub bathrooms, bag groceries, and mow lawns? Taken holistically, undocumented immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in government benefits. And as long as huge wage disparities continue between the U.S. and Mexico, there is going to be an influx of immigrants. The North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allows for unchecked capital to flow between the U.S. and Mexico, yet there is public outcry when eager to work people cross the border unchecked. What are the U.S.’s priorities?
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