Voters, would-be voters weigh in on process

In Tuesday’s primary election, only slightly more than a quarter of California’s voters made it to the polls. And this at a time when our daily lives seem to be constantly at the mercy of government. We must recognize that if we do not take an interest in our political life, we will lose at home what so many Americans are patriotically trying to win abroad. Come November, one can only hope that Americans will take to the polls en masse with the belief that it means nothing to support democracy if you do not participate in democracy, and that the greatest threat to the freedom of Americans is not an insurgency abroad but an inert people at home.

NICHOLAS JAMES MELVOIN

Los Angeles

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As I left my polling booth, I was asked to complete The Times’ exit poll. My choice of philosophy was limited to liberal, conservative or moderate. Like 25% of the population, I fit nowhere on that spectrum. I oppose government regulation of personal behavior, like a liberal, and I oppose government regulation of the economy, like a conservative. Moderate? Someone who favors government regulation of personal behavior and the economy would also have to be a moderate, given your narrow list of choices, while disagreeing with me on virtually every issue.

The Pew Research Center for People & the Press more accurately categorizes people as liberal, conservative, populist or libertarian (with a fifth category for the ambivalent, perhaps equivalent to moderate). The Times relegates itself to the past when it insists on a one-dimensional list in a world of two-dimensional views on personal and economic issues.

LESS ANTMAN

Bonsall, Calif.

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It’s finally over, and it’s a good thing! We have been bombarded with political calls to the point that we don’t want to answer our phone. I can’t believe this is effective with voters. We hang up on every one of them, and I can’t imagine who would actually listen to the recorded messages. Our system of electing our government is broken, to say nothing of expensive. Better the money should be spent on curing the ills of the world.

GINNY BRESEE

Los Angeles

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I didn’t vote Tuesday, not out of choice but because of state-legislated voter registration laws that seem designed to keep new voters off the rolls.

After recently moving to California, I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a driver’s license and filled out the voter registration form. After this form was taken from me, I went to take the license exam. Three days ago I got a letter saying that I was supposed to have put my driver’s license number on the voter registration form. Of course, I didn’t yet have a license when I filled out the form.

Now, I am an educated person who has even served as a deputy registrar of voters in another state, and I didn’t manage to fill out the voter registration form correctly or even notice that the license number was required. I strongly suspect that many people fill out these registration forms attempting to participate in our democratic process and yet are denied participation or required to go through extra hurdles.

JOSH SHER

Woodland Hills