How a Mouse Can End Election’s Paper Chase

First there was electronic banking. Then came e-mail.

We’re betting that the next e-normously inventive trend will be e-lections. From a waste prevention perspective, it couldn’t happen too soon.

Let’s look at what’s going to happen between now and Nov. 5. First, our collective mailboxes and doormats will be stuffed with letters, fliers and other paper pleas from local, county, state and federal candidates for government office. Then come the windshield notices, handbills, bumper stickers, newspaper inserts and other printed materials.

Once we get to the polls, there’s even more paperwork: Computer-generated voter registration rolls, voter history cards, signature cards, proof of registration cards, and of course, the actual ballots.

What’s more, many places that long ago replaced their paper-stuffed ballot boxes with paperless voting machines are now switching to a new type of machine that reads pencil marks placed on paper ballot sheets. Back to the future!

We can’t forget about the energy used driving to the polls, either. Besides using fuel, cars and buses generate air pollution and greenhouse gases.

With wide-scale penetration of computers into offices, factories and homes, there’s a simple way to eliminate much of the paper and pollution: online voting. Here’s just one of many possible electronic voting scenarios:

* At home or work, you fire up your Internet Web browser and check out the party platforms and news.

* Then, you head over to your voting district’s Web site. After filling in your name, residence and Social Security number, the small camera on your monitor (technology currently available, no joke!) verifies your photo against the one on file with the motor vehicle office in your state.

* You are allowed to move on to the ballot page, where you click on the candidates of your choice, press the send button and receive confirmation.

That wasn’t hard, was it? Of course, there are a few items to be worked out, but nothing insurmountable. Think of the benefits to people who can’t easily get to polling places, or to people who can’t get to their home district because they live somewhere else (students, for example). Think of all of the paper that was saved and the gasoline that wasn’t burned!

Want to see a little bit of the future now? Check out the political parties’ electronic propaganda:

Democratic Party: https://www.democrats.org

Republican Party: https://www.rnc.org

Reform Party: https://www.reformparty.org

Don’t forget to vote!

This article is reprinted with permission from the September/October issue of the Use Less Stuff Report, a conservation newsletter. Its address is The ULS Report, P.O. Box 130116, Ann Arbor, MI 48113.