O direito ao voto

Por João Jesus Caetano | Arquivado em Estados Unidos, Política 
9 Agosto, 2008, 10:05 |

Ontem, num editorial, o New York Times fez eco dos alertas de organizações cívicas nos Estados Unidos que têm vindo a chamar a atenção para o mau funcionamento do sistema eleitoral. O que aconteceu na Florida, em 2000, foi a face mais visível devido ao seu impacto mas não ilustra o que de mais grave se passa.

«Much about the presidential election is up in the air, but one thing is certain: voters will have trouble casting ballots on Election Day. In a perfect world, states and localities would handle voting so well that the public could relax and worry about other things. But elections are so mismanaged — and so many eligible voters are disenfranchised — that ordinary citizens have to get involved.

The civic books say that any eligible voter who registers in time can cast a ballot on Election Day. The reality is not so simple. People file registration forms that are not properly processed, or their names are wrongly purged from the voter rolls. They are required to present photo ID even when the law does not require it. They arrive at polling places and find machines that do not work properly or lines that take hours to get through.»

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