I *get* it, Ramit. You are absolutely correct, and some people are not getting it. For those of you calling out Ramit on this subject, listen up.

He’s not saying it’s impossible to find the info. I’m sure that he supports the simplicity and usefulness of search engines, too. What he is saying is this:

There is already a system in place to vote. From one endpoint (the legislative process that results in the things we vote on) to the other (dropping the ballot in the box, however you do it), the government is performing this function.

If you are going to do all of these things, why not get it right from one end all the way to the other? If you owned a business, would you make the mistake of investing in market research, collecting data on your customers and spending money on a mail catalog or flier, but slack off when it came to telling them when/how/where they can find the cash register?

Compare private business to the current system. What I think Ramit is saying is that the government is failing to deliver its customers through the “last mile”. We (the local/state/federal governments) legislate. We plan, orchestrate and fund the operations of the entire voting process. What we don’t do is make it easy for “customers” to participate.

Tell me – why is it that, of all the experience of all the people reading and posting here, we have a wide variety of answers to this puzzle? If it were, in fact, as easy as some say it should be, shouldn’t everyone be shouting out the same answer that works for everyone?

Look at it in reverse. What if I saif: “I’m not sure how to pay my taxes. What do I do?”. In unison, people would be directing me to IRS.GOV in a heartbeat. All the forms are there, and while not perfect, it’s pretty simple, given the complexity of the current tax code. They have fantastic phone support if you want it (try it – you’ll see!). Here, the government is working hard on the design of taking our tax money. What if they did the same for the voting process?

J

What if someone doesn’t have net access, can’t get to a library or cafe with net access, has no friends with net access, isn’t a student with net access at school?

They could:
- Buy a newspaper the day before, day of.
- Use their phonebook to call pretty much any local gov’t office which’d surely be able to direct them.
- Heck, they could probably even call a local radio station and they’d point them in the right direction.

Am I elitist to think that someone should spend between 45 seconds and 2 minutes to help them exercise a right that our forefathers fought so hard for?!

If so, then yep, I’m a damned liberal elitist. Next thing you know, I’ll be suggesting that people have a responsibility to read contracts before they sign them, take personal responsibility for their kids’ behaviors, and so on…

Like a passport and a driver’s license, your voter registration card isn’t something to be thrown away. If your state is like mine, your card not only tells you your polling place, but has instructions in bold print telling you to a) sign it, and b) keep it in your wallet or safe place.

Seriously, man, what happened to you? You expect people to take serious control of their personal finances, but when it comes to democracy, you can’t be bothered to not throw away a goverment mailing that has “HEY! DON’T THROW THIS AWAY!” tattooed on it.

P.S. Maybe you were using the wrong Internet:

http://www.google.com/search?q=california+polling+places

If you ask me it’s kind of pathetic that every other generation can figure out how to vote, but today’s kids need “Special Instructions”…