DAVE ROSS

How to vote more than once legally

Nov 4, 2014, 5:39 AM | Updated: 12:50 pm

This Monday, Oct. 20, 2014 photo shows Democratic Party volunteers call prospective voters to urge ...

This Monday, Oct. 20, 2014 photo shows Democratic Party volunteers call prospective voters to urge them to support Gov. Jerry Brown and other party candidates at a phone bank in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. (AP Photo)

(AP Photo)

A lot of people look forward to Election Day for one reason. It means the ads finally stop.

But Election Day serves another secret function. It’s the day each of us gets to decide whether we want to be alive or dead.

When you’re a regular voter, the parties put you on their “A” list. You are alive. You will get doorbell-ed by candidates and called by pollsters.

Now I know a lot of people hate that. In which case you should stay home because that gets you on the “D” list or the voter obituary list – exactly as if you had died.
You’ll still get calls from fundraisers, but the pollsters won’t waste time on you.

Pollsters want to spend their time on the 35 percent of Americans who like to vote. You may end up on the phone for 20 minutes giving your opinions on the minimum wage, immigration reform, and taxes.

My wife and I take those calls and we answer the questions because while Election Day decides who wins, it doesn’t necessarily determine how the winners will vote on legislation. For that, the winners from both parties will consult their consciences, of course, but also, they sometimes have been known to take a peek at the opinion polls conducted between elections, right before those critical votes. And especially the opinions listed under the heading “likely voters.”

That is when voters who vote a lot get to vote again, legally, when it can really make a difference.

Spend Election Night with MyNorthwest, KIRO Radio

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How to vote more than once legally