Today of all days I

[oneiriad]

stopped on my way home from school to put an x on a piece of paper, which is my small part in the whole democratic proces. Will have to stay up late and see if it made a difference.

One thing I've been wondering about. Here in Denmark, when you get old enough to vote, the election cards will simply start appearing in your mail at appropriate times - it's all automatic. However, as I understand it, in the US you have to actively get registered as a voter before getting to, well, vote. What I don't get is why this is. I mean, doesn't the US keep track of its own citizens? Because it can't be the technology that's a problem, obviously. Or are Americans more paranoid about that sort of thing than Danes? I know that I personally can't really get worked up about the surveillance society we live in. They know my name, they know where I live, they already have or can get my medical history, my taxes, my Dankort use, my internet use - I'm even pretty sure they have my DNA. Doesn't faze me. Of course, maybe I'm just weird...

On a completely different note, then I'm a bit disappointed in the deleted scenes on the double-dvd of PotC: AWE. I mean, one extra scene with Pintel & Ragetti and one with a bit more of the Jack-and-Barbossa-captaincy-rivalry (including Jack hitting poor Barbossa in the balls, sort of) isn't much. Of course, there might be easter eggs I haven't found, probably because I haven't really looked. Still, I would have liked a bit more with James...

Comments

[tsiankiio.livejournal.com]

Hi, I totally just wandered in, actually by way of your Danish fic, as I'm trying to teach myself Danish (I actually didn't get very far on the fic as my vocabulary currently consists of 1-10, man, woman, and hello.)

Anyway, I was perusing you lj, and I though I would answer your question about American voter registration. Since neither voting, or registering to vote is required in the US, you have to go out and basically choose to register. Usually you can do this when you get a new license and it's good until you move to another state, which since you have to get a new driver's license then anyway, I'm still not sure how anyone wouldn't be registered. Also, in my state, you can register at the polls, all you have to do is give them your address and a piece of mail from utilities to prove your address is correct.

[oneiriad.livejournal.com]

Well, see, it's never actually been the process itself that I've wondered about. What I don't understand is why the American state seems to insist that its citizens have to jump through so very many hoops before getting to vote. To me, it seems like the surest way to ensure a low voter turn-out, like the system wants people to qualify to be voters through sheer stubbornness...

Anyway, both of my Danish fic exist in pretty close translations to English, if that's any help? Best of luck with the language and 'god jul'. :-)