Question:  What’s the difference between death and taxes?  Answer:  Congress doesn’t meet every year to make death worse.  Question:  Why do thieves never target politicians’ homes?  Answer:  Professional courtesy.

   In less than a week, on Tuesday November 3rd, it will be election day.  Registered voters have received their ballots.  Many have voted already, including my wife.  I’ve been hanging onto my ballot.  I’ve been wanting to do a little more studying, a little more crystal ball gazing, and a little more procrastination.

   It took me a while to get used to the “vote by mail/early voting system” which we have now.  I know that there are some people who still think that it’s weird, unreliable, suspect, unAmerican, awful, non-traditional, not what the founding fathers wanted, and just plain crooked and of the devil.  I try to make a point of not getting too political here, but I’ll announce right here and now that I’m not one of those people.

   My opinion is that Utah’s current method of voting is convenient, safe and reliable.  I’ve watched the YouTube video “How Vote By Mail Works in Utah”

(There’s a link to the video at Vote.Utah.gov).  There’s a list of  “Ballot Processing Safeguards” at that website as well.

   I’ve heard Sanpete’s own Governor Cox explain those safeguards back when he was in charge of elections as Lt. Governor Cox.  Our now Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson, was on national TV a week ago Sunday.   She appeared on the highly rated CBS TV “news magazine show” “60 Minutes.”  She has stood firm in defense of Utah’s voting system and in keeping voter data private.

   I believe that Utah is a model for a lot of good practices in our society.  Our voting system is part of that in my opinion.

   When voting by mail was first instituted in Sanpete County years ago, I heard that an interesting complainer called into the county.  The complaint was that voting by mail was making it too easy for people to vote.

   This person’s theory apparently was that more non-knowledgeable people would be casting ballots under the “vote at home and mail back your ballot” method.  Like I said, interesting.

   The premise is that if people don’t have the motivation to get out and vote at a polling place, they probably haven’t studied the candidates and the issues.  I wonder about the validity of that assumption.  In any case, I think all registered voters should have a fair and reasonable chance to cast their ballots.

   Most of our current local elected officials are running unopposed.  I know these people personally and believe them to be qualified and doing a good job for Sanpete.  Even if they’re unopposed, I’m going to mark the ballot as my vote of confidence for their continued service.

   All of Sanpete is in the 4th Congressional District for the U.S. Congress.  There are four candidates on the ballot.  I’m still completing my research on them.

   A robber held up a well-dressed man, pointing his gun and yelling, “Give me all your money!”  The man replied, “Don’t you know who I am?  I’m a U.S congressman!  The robber retorted, “In that case, give me all my money!”

   There are other races and issues on my ballot that need to be thought about.  There are choices for school district, state house, judge retention, and constitutional amendments to consider.

   I learned something interesting about voting in some other areas of the world recently.  Did you know that some countries have what could be called “compulsory voting?”

   Australia, for example, has very high voter turn-out.  It’s seldom less than 90%.  Voter registration is compulsory.  If you don’t vote, you’re subject to a fine.  It’s $20 AU ($14+ US) for the first offense and a maximum penalty of $180AU ($126+US), which is regularly enforced.  They’ve had this compulsory voting going on there for more than 100 years.

   There are 21 countries that have some version of compulsory voting.  Many in South America including Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and others.

   I guess not surprisingly, North Korea has mandatory voting.  There’s only one candidate on the ballot for offices.  Dissenting votes are possible, but there may be consequences for the voter and their families.  To dissent is considered an act of treason.  Ballots are not secret.

   I would hope that we as Sanpeters will have the motivation to do a little research and then vote our consciences on all the ballot choices.  If you’re a person who wants to have a right to complain about things, you’ve got to vote in order to “buy” that right.  If you let the election go by without voting, your complaints are hollow.

   Historically, I believe that Sanpete has been a high turn-out county for voting.  Wouldn’t it be great if we had the highest percentage of voting in the state?  What do you say?  Let’s do it! — Merrill

   P.S.  I was arrested for impersonating a politician… but all I was doing was sitting in my office doing nothing!