Voter ID | The Good News | Re-1776 | IVA Page Guide

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Initial Publication: 01-01-01   Latest Revision: 09-28-22 rls

Look at your Voter ID Card from your local "board of elections." (The name of the place voters register differs by state.) In every case, the exact address where you maintain your legal residence largely determines who you are politically. Notice that the card is clearly a local card. The card specifies the exact place and address where you and 200 to 900 other voters can vote.

My Ohio Voter ID card showed my school, court, and electoral district numbers. My voting precinct was "CINCINNATI 21-D." "House Dist. 31" was my Ohio House of Representatives district. "Senate Dist. 09" was my Ohio Senate district. "Congress Dist. 1" was my U.S. Congress House of Representatives district. (I lived in Cincinnati 43 years, 1970 to 2013 rls 2016.)

CINCINNATI 21-D is the only physical location where I can legally vote either as a U.S. Citizen or as an Ohio citizen. The exact local polling place address is printed on the card.

ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL: We vote in all public office elections on local precinct ballots. We vote to elect two U.S. Senators from our state in offset six-year terms. We vote for the executive and legislative leaders of the governments we live under: local, county, state, and national. We vote for the President of the United States. We also vote on referendum issues and tax levies on local precinct ballots. All politics is local. All of our votes are cast in the voting precinct where we live at the moment. rls 2016

A voter ID card shows us who we are politically. Each time we change our legal residence our political identity changes. Voter registration information on our card is the key to the very limited power we share with other citizens in districts where we live.

THE FACT IS, 80% OF REGISTERED VOTERS DO NOT SELF-IDENTIFY WITH EITHER OF THE TWO RECOGNIZED "MAJOR" PARTIES: If the parties are not a "majority" of voters, who are they a "majority" of? They are not a majority anywhere. Voter turnout runs from 12% to 49% with an occasional surge up to 65% when the "majority" parties do not have the only viable candidates on a ballot. The winner can get just half of the turnout votes, 6% to 33%. In the rare election with more than two candidates, elections can be won with a plurality (less than 50%); if the plurality is 40% of the votes cast, the election is won with the votes of less than 20% of the voter age population. Our elections are a very undemocratic bipartisan process.

In any election won with a "60% majority" of voter turnout, only 30% of the voter age population voted for the winner. Any election won by a large "majority" has probably been fixed by gerrymandering. Electoral district boundaries are changed to include more "likely voters" for candidates of one party. Almost all elections are "fixed" by the "two-party system."

Your Voice: You can use your right to petition to put more choices on every ballot. Then, we can have good reasons to vote. You can help select people to put on your ballot. You can then vote for candidates you select who do not put a political party first, or do not take money from campaign contributors who expect their interests to come first. You could even stand for public office yourself. You would represent your interests and the common interests of people in the nonpartisan super majority. You can create a more democratic republic for the people in your community.

In today's politics, your choices are limited. In stark contrast, the very wealthy are well represented and have better political results. The wealthy simply buy legislation and law that favors their special interests. They buy influence with political contributions, and make the paradoxical claim to be a "good citizen" supporting the "democratic" process. The very wealthy cast their votes with their checkbooks, for both incumbent monopoly parties. They rule. The wealthy have actual power through political access, no matter who wins bipartisan two-party elections. The wealthy always win every election. Our governments serve the 0.001 of 1.0% "Billionaire" class.