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Secret ballots — a whisper with loud implications

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If there's one lesson I have learned from my runs for minor office [Buncombe Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor], it has been to greatly increase my appreciation for the secret ballot. It seems nothing less than miraculous that suddenly, in a community that, far from outgrowing middle school, merely heaps employment concerns upon its oppressions, [and] election day can turn a political and personal world of absolutely zero-solidarity, total-pariah status and nearly universal censorship into one with over 12,000 secret admirers. …

One other thing that I have discovered about the secret ballot in my campaigns is its limits. I learned that although individual votes are secret, neighborhood (precinct) votes are not.

This neighborhood voter information will be extremely useful when I choose which neighborhood to live in, as it should be for everyone, but it also could easily subject voters to collective retaliation. …

— Alan Ditmore
Leicester

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    • Huh?
      By TokyoTaos
      11/19/2010

      Reply
    • And these rambling paranoid delusions are exactly why I'm so happy Mr. Ditmore was not elected, although I'm fascinated as to why 12,000 people actually voted for him.

      I mean, come on.... His platform was "There's too many people on the planet. HERP. DERP!"

      By tatuaje
      11/19/2010

      Reply
    • Ditto. What a rambling stream of nearly incoherent verbiage.
      By Dionysis
      11/20/2010

      Reply
    • Alan,
      Will you have time now to do a show on public access with Jeff Turner now?
      RB

      By R.Bernier
      11/20/2010

      Reply
    • I used to think Ditmore was Dionysis! LOL

      Ditmore lives in Leicester but maybe not permanently?

      By UnaffiliatedVoter
      11/21/2010

      Reply
    • "...but it also could easily subject voters to collective retaliation..."

      It already does. We are collectively subjected to retaliation in the form of higher taxes and involuntary annexations.

      Am I correct in recollecting that one's past voting trends are public records and easily obtainable? If so, that negates much of the privacy protection that seret balloting provides.

      By BigAl
      11/22/2010

      Reply
    • "I used to think Ditmore was Dionysis! LOL

      Ditmore lives in Leicester but maybe not permanently?"


      Please. I might be wordy, but my posts usually come close to being coherent.

      By Dionysis
      11/22/2010

      Reply

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