Posted on 09/24/2015 5:09:14 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Voting Procedures in Honduras, a Banana Republic!
(a re-write of excellent post by Gideon300)
I had the opportunity to go watch my wife, a citizen of Honduras, vote in last year’s presidential election in Tegucigalpa. It was a real eye-opener, and I can only wish the US had such a strict voting process.
Everyone in Honduras is required to vote only in the precinct as indicated on their government issued (free) photo ID card. Every citizen over 18 is required to have an national ID, and everyone with an ID can vote. No one else, and no one is registered as a member of a certain party, merely a citizen. My wife’s precinct is Barrio El Bosque, so she was required to go to the Escuela de 14 de Julio (local elementary school) if she wanted to vote.
When we arrived at the voting place there were hundreds of people milling around the street and a long line was waiting to enter. The entire scene was closely watched over by Army and Policía Nacionál to make sure order was kept. For the most part everything was quite orderly, and people were polite to each other even with the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd. After showing ID, passing the guard and entering the school we went to the main table in the courtyard where they ran her ID through a computer and she was given a little slip of paper that indicated her name, her precinct, her “mesa” (voting area) and “linea” number (her number on the voter registration list). Every citizen is automatically registered to vote, and their name, Id photo and precinct number is on a list posted in that precinct.
The “mesas” in this case are rooms in the school, numbered in order to handle the hundreds of people waiting to vote. Her mesa was number 8586, so after finding the room, there was a list of all registered voters beside the door. She checked her line number with photo, 235, to make sure she is at the right door, the man watching the door checked her ID against the list, and let her in. She went to the table inside the room
for a ballot, was checked again for ID and compared it to the info and photo in the registry, was given two ballots, one for president and one for congress, and this time they held her ID while she voted. I was allowed in as a foreign observer, but was not on school tables for privacy, so after voting she deposited her ballots in the appropriate boxes, was given her ID back and we left.
I wanted to take photos but no cameras were allowed anywhere but in the street. No alcohol is sold anywhere in Honduras from Saturday through Monday, the day before and the day after election.
They take voter ID, and potential vote fraud, VERY seriously. All ballots are paper, and all have the candidate’s info and photo. There are eight official parties in Honduras, and the one with the most votes wins. The police and the army watch the voting very closely. One woman was caught with an extra ballot, and was immediately arrested. The Honduras news media, which is quite politically unbiased, indicated that both local and official foreign observers found only three cases of vote fraud in the entire country.
It was certainly an eye-opener for me! If this is the difference between a the US and a Banana Republic, then I’ll take a banana republic election anytime.
Forget about it.
Most states- 40 I think offhand- have sore loser laws that will not allow Trump (or any primary loser) to run in the general election except as a write in candidate.
“Before he’s done...” What an absurd claim.
Trump, as Republican candidate for President, will lambaste any opponent. His opponents right now are all Republicans.
Maybe.
TRUMP all the way!!!
The party defenders of the Washington status quo have throw everything at Trump who has solely made the party more interesting to a whole cross segment of people who had tuned out politics altogether. While I still favor Cruz I admire Trump for all the reasons that others have disdain for him. I want GOP who will defeat and skewer their opponents. I want GOP who will not just cower and apologize but will shoot back denigrating their opponents and taking the opposition down with them if it comes to it.
The softer, gayer, big government loving, baby killing protecting side of the GOP has no appeal for me nor most GOP voters. We have no desire to Unite with Democrats in a shared pathway to the abyss. The self styled elites will find themselves very alone if they actually get their way with Jeb or some other squish like Kasich.
Trump will make Hillary look good? PIFFt.. What color is the sky in your world?
So I’m unreasonable and belong in a cage at the zoo.
Alrighty then.
“Political scientists...”
Now there’s an oxymoron.
Take home:
Condemnations from those elites, like those aimed at Trump, have been taken as a badge of honor.
“Political scientists think “the party” will stop Trump.”
************************************
I had three female employees with degrees in polysci in a large department where I was the Manager. The three of them were extremely liberal and unmarried and the majority of other employees were conservatives, so friction arose every time there was an election coming up. The three were good workers and I gave promotions to two of them. ...It was like trying to stomp out a grass fire, though every election time.
I’ve never met a polysci graduate that wasn’t a liberal.
Dear peon, the leftist media is your guide to your next presidential candidate. You are not expected to think for yourself as that is dangerous and habit forming. Please allow media experts and other highly trained professionals do do the heavy lifting.
Obamacare does not cover injuries caused by thinking for yourself, nor for what was formerly grade school level analysis and critical thinking; nowadays these activities require advanced degrees - neither of which you possess, obviously.
Your only job is to vote for the candidate of their choice.
I firmly believe that Ross Perot is your man.
He is in disguise - like Obama was. If you could see thru the later during the run-up to primaries, you should be able to see thru the former. Both are products of the leftist media who do not manufacture political candidates for their collective health.
The goal of Trump is to do as much damage as possible to other candidates (like Walker, Perry, and Jindal), or even get himself elected, but more likely get J Bush up as candidate so Bush can be knocked down by Hillary in the general; same policies, different rhetoric, LIV will vote for the real article - the one who promises the most free stuff (not Bush).
Trump has been a lifelong Democrat. Why the sudden change? Why the call to B Clinton on the day before he announced?
Why did he go to MSNBC in his childish fit of peak against FOX? On which network will he get the most views? Which network is known for extreme moonbatery? Which network will have the most Republican viewers MSNBC or FOX (which network has the most viewers anyway). Is this how Trump will behave as President?
A vote for Trump in the primaries is a vote for Clinton later. <- new catch phrase!
Blue, except when there are clouds - in this case there are thunderheads mucking up the colors.
Trump will make Hillary look good by making all other Republican candidates look bad; Trump will force J Bush to become the only electable Republican which will throw the election to Hillary as the plan completes.
Why do you suppose she is always seen as smiling? Only B Sanders can spoil the plan, as so many naive conservatives have fallen for the ruse.
All hail Hillary!
“He is in disguise...” LOLOLOLOL!!
You don’t know dick!
“Trump has been a lifelong Democrat.”
He switched to GOP in 2001. The last 15 years never happened?
At this point in time, where GOP = Democrat, “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?”
They reflect the thinking of most of the political class.
Yeah, but it’s much easier to spell Trump than Murkowski.
A vote for Trump in the primaries is a vote for Clinton later. <- new catch phrase!
The 1990’s called. They want their catch phrase back.
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