don't cage me bro

After signing on the proverbial dotted line and joining the Democratic Party, I decided that it would be important to read the fine print. So I've been perusing the official website (www.democrats.org), and to be honest, I haven't found anything of great importance. In fact, both the democrats and the republicans have more material bashing the other party's candidate than they do supporting their own. But I was trying to learn about the party as a whole, not the candidate. I haven't been very successful so far, but I did find out about something very interesting: voter caging.

From what I understand, the government sends a letter to the address at which you are registered. If for some reason the letter is returned as undeliverable, your registration can be considered fraudulent, and your right to vote can be challenged. It's legal because it's meant to catch the baddies, but it has been used in the past to illegally strip voting privileges from innocent people (usually minorities). The Bush campaign was [allegedly] planning to use this technique right here in Florida in 2004, which doesn't surprise me in the least bit.

Anyway, there are a few bills (S. 2305 and H. R. 5038) which would pretty much prevent anyone from being challenged unless the challenger knows beforehand that the person is shady, and any governmental misconduct would be punished. I personally prefer H. R. 5038 because it includes jail time in the punishment (S. 2305's punishment is a hefty fine).

I never really considered until now how long it takes to get a bill passed or tabled, but it seems like a good long while, considering both of these bills have been out there for more than 6 months. Let's just hope McCain isn't trying any of this shady business in '08. And Obama, too, I guess ;)