Ballot stuffers and capitals
Jonathan Pait
December 14, 2001
Being editor of Upstate Common Voice is fun. It also can be quite a challenge! All in all it has been a great way to get to know some wonderful people. Not to mention the fact that you can get a good education in relationships and personalities when you communicate with so many diverse people.
There are the ballot stuffers. As a matter of fact, I took it as a personal challenge to keep the supporters of a particular candidate for S.C. GOP Chairman (and it wasn’t Dick Hartpootlian) from continually stuffing the ballot. Well over a hundred bogus votes came in from all candidates.
It took most of my lunch break to adjust the code to put a stop to at least two techniques for stuffing the ballot. Of course, I won’t say what they are. Besides, this is the Internet and I know some enterprising hacker--I mean--volunteer can figure out a way to get around anything.
No one takes the polls seriously. It is a lot of fun. Still, it takes out some of the fun if we don’t “play by the rules.” Either way, the poll function is better off for the experience. Who says competition isn’t good for us?
Then there is the REB ISSUE. It is funny, but the exchange between Reb and Capitol Watch (who IS NOT – oh, excuse me – the editor) generated more mail and furor than any Ben Graydon article. It was fun, but it is easy to get carried away with that sort of thing. As editor, my job is to know when to pull the plug. So, no more making fun of Reb and her staff for sending releases in all capital letters.
Some other readers and I would seriously like to know about this connection between DHEC and DSS (legitimate use of capital letters). One particular E-mailer who has worked in child-related cases in particular asked for Reb to give an explanation. We extend that request to her or Mr. Panos.
There are a lot of other favorite people. There is Harrison from Taylors who is always welcome to post to give us the liberal view on issues. Can’t forget all those faithful writers who make Upstate Common Voice possible. They aren’t getting paid, they just want to participate in the community. Shame on those who have said they would submit and haven’t :-)
Of course, there are the people who really help Upstate Common Voice. Those are the people who “tell-a-friend” about the site. Either they share the URL over a mug of coffee, e-mail a particular article to a friend or click here and use our referral feature.
Go ahead, click it.
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