Columnist Jon Ralston: Election officials foster apathy

Friday, Aug. 16, 2002 | 6:02 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the public affairs program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the Ralston Report. Ralston can be reached at ralston@vegas.com or (702) 870-7997.

IF YOU ALREADY voted Saturday, it's too late for you. But make no mistake: If you did, you are a fool or a sloth.

Early voting, which began Saturday and continues for two weeks, underscores everything that is wrong with elections today in America. They are not about actively participating and paying attention and getting informed. This phenomenon simply dispenses with as little trouble as possible a right that millions of people in the world would die -- and have died -- to possess. And perhaps worst of all, this relatively recent manifestation is heartily encouraged by election officials.

Secretary of State Dean Heller adores the idea: "Early voting allows those registered voters who may be out of town on election day or who may have a difficult time making it to their polling place on Sept. 3 to cast their ballot early so their voice can be heard. More and more people are taking advantage of early voting because of the convenience and ease it affords."

Better to be convenient and easy than actually hard and inconvenient. What would we do if people actually had to wait until Election Day, collect all the information, and then make an informed choice?

Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax echoes Heller's words. In a news release headlined "Get Out (Early) and Vote (Early)," Lomax gushes: "Early voting gives people the option of voting when it is most convenient for their individual schedule. In fact, with the number of sites available, registered voters can even cast a ballot while they are picking up milk and bread."

Indeed, Lomax inadvertently captures exactly what is wrong with early voting. It trivializes democracy by saying to voters that what happens in the last two-plus weeks of the campaign is not really important, so put about as much thought into your choices as you do between buying white or rye.

Government officials are encouraging voters to be even more ignorant. Only in America.

And it's working, too. At least for them, for the incumbents or moneyed candidates who thrive on a benighted electorate and for the campaign consultants, who get to start running ads and sending out mail pieces earlier.

In Campaign '00, 38 percent of the primary turnout came from early voting; in the general, 44 percent of those who turned out voted before Election Day.

In fact, that term has become obsolete. There is no Election Day anymore -- it is Election Days.

It would be one thing if we were talking about helping out the sickly or the elderly. But that's not what this is about. It's about what Lomax and Heller said -- making it easier for people. As if it's difficult to stand in line on Election Day.

What they are doing by encouraging this behavior is enabling either latent or pervasive apathy that is out there, allowing people to care even less. And they are helping campaigns and special interests (unions especially), which can use several days instead of one to herd sheep to the polls to cast prearranged votes on ballots that have been marked for them. It enhances the potency of anyone who has the money and resources to buy grass roots.

But think how fraught this is with danger. I can't wait until this happens: Thousands of people vote early for Candidate X. And two days before the election, a scandal breaks about Candidate X. Or make it a week before. You can't take those votes back. And if Candidate X is elected, how stupid will those voters feel? I wonder if they will even care.

You might even wonder why I care. After all, shouldn't I be writing about the Abbi Silver-David Roger argument over strip clubs and prevarications? Or the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce's slow slide toward reasonableness on tax policy? Or Councilman Michael Mack's attempt to prove that he was just a bonehead and not a crook?

All weighty subjects, I grant you. But isn't anyone else out there concerned that as ignorance becomes epidemic, the power of money, the power of anointments, the power of incumbency becomes even more absolute?

So if you want to be a willful idiot or a lazy ignoramus, then by all means get out and vote before Election Day. It's what the government officials, candidates and consultants want. But if you actually want to take the time to read the papers, watch TV and get every scrap of information you can, wait until Sept. 3.