How else are the republicans going to counter the Dems' voting dead everywhere else?

Gerrymandering is standard in the south. In Louisiana they do it as a matter of policy so that there are districts that are black majority and will thus elect blacks to office, etc.
Disrupting a public highway is a childish and mean way to 'protest' it.

Gerrymandering in Texas is a bipartisan sport... I'm not sure who did it most recently, but I know that it's gone back and forth.

And seven miles? I drive almost 30 miles to work every single day. This was the EARLY polling place... it's not like they had to be there during business hours for one day.

Sheesh. What a bunch of whiners. I hope they didn't prevent anyone from getting anywhere important with their stunt.

I'm sure the politicians will get the idea and undo all the gerrymandering. Suuuuure they will.

What the Texas Legislature did to the state's districts is a scandal, and deserves all the attention and protest the people of Texas can muster. If politicians can't endure a fair vote, they've no right to hold office.

Peacefully marching down a highway and blocking traffic is a perfect way to protest. It harms no-one, while making a point about the ridiculous placement of the polling station. Of course, some people will get caught in the traffic jam and be late for stuff, and they've got every right to be angry. But being on time isn't a civil right. Voting certainly is.

These kids are fantastic, and due all praise.

Bitch PhD had a post about this-- I didn't realize that the students disrupted traffic, but it makes sense that it would happen.

After the students voted, more polling places were opened in that county. I don't know if any of them were on the campus.

This is also interesting in the historical context; Bitch posted that this is the college that eventually made it so college students can register where they go to school, rather than being absentee where their parents live.

I'm in favor of this, if for no other reason than it's people voting. If the county puts polling places far away from people, the county has to deal with people getting to them.

Please pardon my expression, but putting those voters 7 miles away from their polling place is the work of low-down, dirty motherfuckers. Ain't no two ways about it.

This is a beautiful site!
Placing a polling place 7 miles away from a college campus is ridiculous, I'm sure the school has more than enough locations that could have served as polling places, and though #2 may drive 30 miles to work each day, you have to realize not all students have cars and getting around can be difficult. Though they may have caused traffic delays, it is important that they draw attention to this injustice.
Frankly, I'm just proud to see so many young people taking an interest in defending their voting rights.

damn, just noticed I misspelled sight...

@eiconoclast

Yeah, lets move the voting places 30 miles away! That should be great, only the rich car owners can vote then! Car owners will be the new land owners in our mock-democracy!

...now, back to reality. I live a block away from my polling place, and there are 3 other places I could vote at (that I know about) within a mile radius. Which is great, because that means all the little old ladies that can only walk about 3 blocks comfortably, and are the most likely to vote, won't have any issues when they practice their right to vote.

Oh, and I'm interested in hearing what activities you believe are be more important than voting.

This is a great idea. I need to renew my license soon and I'm going to march down the middle of the street all the way to the DMV office to protest it not being closer to me.

On the way back, I was thinking of walking by the donut shop to protest it not being closer, too.

In this way, I will convince myself that I'm making an important difference in the world. And also, I can have a donut.

Mmm, donuts.

I'm all for voting rights and stopping gerrymandering, and I don't doubt there are very real instances of this in Texas and elsewhere, but this seems like an extremely excessive reaction.

It didn't say in that blog post (an actual article/news story about this would be nice), but there may have very well been a closer voting site after the first day of early voting. For those complaining about the distance and not having a car, I'm willing to bet that the city has public transportation. Seven miles is what, a 30min bus ride at most? Or they could car pool.

This just seems to be a very manufactured complaint. Not to mention that blocking a highway is both illegal and dangerous.

Once again, the comments on Boing Boing amply demonstrate that the spirit of fascism is a live and well in America.

@ #1 You agree that gerrymandering is bad and that it is no accident that the polling places are so far away for a reason, but you take issue with the fact that a road was temporarily blocked during a protest meant to draw attention to this appalling outrage. How much respect should we have for your point of view? You recognize an injustice but condemn those willing to speak out against it. Usually this is a characteristic trait of the smug, self-satisfied bourgeoisie. They're always to comfortable in their station to approve of anything that might disrupt it, no matter how necessary or warranted. This is why revolutions never come from this class or any tier higher than it. They profit too much from the status quo.

A protest is not a protest if it does not cause at least some departure from business as usual. The point is to make a statement and to get noticed. And what about the inconveniences that we have been conditioned to accept? Roads are often closed for all manner of reason having to do with construction, weather, etc. If George Bush drove through town, and they closed the road for our tyrant president, would you throw up a protest? Oh, in this case I suppose it would be for a good reason, right?

@#2 If it is true that Gerrymandering is a bipartisan sport, I would fully hope that those republicans adversely effected by it would take similar measures. I would support their right to protest unfairness. Again, protest usually involves minor inconveniences. It disrupts everyday living in some way.

@#9 The point you're missing is that the students feel, probably with good cause, that the polling places were deliberately placed in an out-of-the-way location to lessen the chances that certain votes would be cast. Doing things like this with the intention of discouraging voters is fully against the sprit of democracy. It is underhanded, low, and nasty. I would expect in Kenya, some Balkan states, maybe South America, but not in America. Placing a DMV in one location or another has nothing to do with encouraging or discouraging your vote. Therefore your analogy is absurd.

Democracy is a team sport and requires protest when those in government do not uphold their professed ideals or when they resort to trickery and low dealing to achieve a desired objective, or when the abuse their power at the general expense of those who are governed.

Considering the sad state of American democracy at the moment and the innumerable injustices that we are subjected to daily, it should be a civic duty of all responsible citizens to join a public protest of some kind at least once a month. Sit-ins, road blockings, burnings-in-effigy--all that good stuff.

Oh, I know, you would rather let the corporate lobbyists be your primary advocates.

Shame on all fascists who denounce the protestors. Even if you disagree with their political views, as good Americans you should defend their right to express those views as a form of protest. What the fuck are you thinking? Honestly?

I don't expect anyone of the fascist to post a retort to any of the people who wrote pro-freedom comments because they must know that they will be quickly annihilated by superior reason and rhetoric. Fascists, confess your selfish motives and repent! If, however, there be fascists brave enough to defend a contrary point of view, then I say to them, "Out with it!".

Quite so Pyros, when even the appearance of playing fair is no longer honored, democracy is finished.

This is the single biggest legacy the bush years leaves. Institutionalized open cynicism. I note Karl Rove running about, essentially bragging at his ability to cheat and defraud his client into office and keep him there. Why hasn't this man been charged?

#2 -

common practice (at least where i go to school) is to place a voting center directly on campus. no, 7 miles is not a long distance, but fewer college students will vote if they have to drive 7 miles instead of simply popping into the university center on their way to class, casting their vote, and getting on with their day.

and the goal of an effective protest is to create some sort of disruption to garner attention, and in preventing many, many people from getting places on time they've done just that.

this country is screwed up in so many ways, and pretty cool in a lot of other ways

this is one of the screwed up things

one of the pretty cool things is that these students can demonstrate like this without being gunned down

let's hope it stays that way

the cool part

Isn't it a duty of a democracy to make sure everyone who wants to vote, can vote? A voters bill of rights is needed.

Maybe the UNO should watch the elections, seems necessary.

While I agree that it's plenty obnoxious for the county not to open a early-voting polling place near the college, this has nothing to do with gerrymandered districts in Texas, nothing.

The 10th Congressional District includes all of Waller Country; the Texas 18th State Senate Seat includes all of Waller County; the Texas 28th House district includes all of Waller County.

Voting is run by the counties in Texas - just like it is, as far as I know, everywhere else in the United States. Voting is not organized and run by individual constituencies. Now, this may be lame, and I suppose this is a reasonable form of protest But this has nothing to with gerrymandered districts, whether created by Tom DeLay or anyone else.

Just a note because I don't think the linked article mentioned this: Prairie View A&M;, is a historically a black university, and today remains overwhelmingly so.

It's a pretty good guess they will not be voting for McCain in the general.

At #17: Everything in politics is run by individual constituencies, this is especially true in small Texas towns. The only question is to what extent they can act without impunity.

At #10: Never bet that a Texas town has public transportation. Even in Houston, there are huge swaths of the city that are inaccessible without a car.

But if you really want to bet those whiny students could have spent an hour on the bus to go vote, then you would lose. According to the U.S. News and World Report, no public transportation serves the campus.

Two more stats from U.S. News: 46% work on the campus. 25% of students do not have cars.

1. Gerrymandering. Yes, the Republican gerrymandering in 2002 got a lot of national attention. Note, however, it was a response to Democratic gerrymandering that meant the Republicans didn't control the Texas legislature for *130 years*. This is the problem with gerrymandering, in general...it only suddenly becomes a problem when the "wrong" party starts to take advantage of it.

2. This is part of a long-running battle that goes back to the 1970s in Waller County on whether or not students should be able to vote in local elections in Waller County, or whether they should have to vote in the counties where they are permanent residents. This is an issue in many college towns. Regardless, Waller County has consistently ignored court orders, etc. that clearly require it to allow students at Prairview A&M; to register and vote in Waller County.

@9

The difference between these students and your smug little fantasy is this: They are using their constitutional right to free assembly to stage a peaceful protest against an obvious attempt to undermine their ability to vote, while you can't comprehend how this is different from your own selfish need to consume.

You think you're funny and...you are. Just not in the way you imagine.

Come on. Redistricting is about who represents whom in Congress or the statehouse. Early voting is a convenience (an arguable convenience, but that is what it is), and is not available at all regular polling locations. Complaining that the special polling place is farther away than your normal one is just silly. And these kids (yes, I used the term as I wished it to appear) have a misplaced and weird sense of their voting rights. A protest about who represents you is one thing. A protest about an early polling place is a waste of time. If you don't want to go 7 miles, wait until Election Day and vote at your regularly assigned polling place. It's not a difficult concept.

Repairman has it exactly right. And these kids have it exactly wrong. Maybe over time, they will figure out what is worth arguing and whingeing over and save their "outrage" for those things. In the meantime, I surely hope they exhibit better judgment and decision making skills while they're in their early voting location than they demonstrated on the way there.

Oh, and while we're discussing early voting (including absentee voting), in my state, several early voters lost their ability to pick a viable candidate, as more than half the field withdrew from the race before the primary was actually held. So everyone who voted early for one of those withdrawn candidates essentially voted for no one. Early voting isn't all it's cracked up to be.

If you ask a political candidate for a ride to place your vote they'll usually send someone to pick you up.

First, there is more -- MUCH more -- to this story than mere gerrymandering. This county has a history of electoral corruption that goes back decades. See, for example, coverage here:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5552259.html

and here:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5554080.html

There are a number of pending lawsuits concerning this, and while some have tried to dismiss their concerns as the result of mere incompetence, I think any fair reading of the lengthy history rules that out: it's active malice.

I'm enormously proud of these kids: they are defending the franchise at a time when it's under increasing assault from multiple directions. They're showing that They Get It -- that the right to vote is precious, and must be upheld at all costs. They've shown a far superior grasp of what participatory democracy means than the whiners carping about a minor inconvenience to motorists.

No dogs, clubs and water cannons? I suppose we can call this 'progress.'

So did this get any local news coverage? It would be interesting to see the spin that they put on it.

brilliant. prevent other people from getting to the voting center so you can make a statement!

I have wondered for some time if gerrymandering couldn't be eliminated or at least reduced some by some kind of online internet application. Say for instance you had a web app that made use of Google Maps and that local users could propose how the voting districts should be drawn. You could even have a simple line drawing feature built in. The resulting compromises might be better than our current system.

Wikipedia operates like this. The real action there is behind the scenes where edits to an article are discussed and argued over and eventually a compromise is reached. I don't see why you couldn't have the same success here and you would be basically taking this away from the politicians and returning it to the people.

Of course you would have all kinds of bullshit going on and you would need to verify that a user lived within the state or county. It might not be the best, but I kind of think it would be better than what we have now and it sure couldn't hurt to try. Maybe some sort of pilot project or demonstration of concept to begin with.

Certain elements would fight like hell I suppose, especially in the racist South. That is the whole point of all this gerrymandering. It's intended to disenfranchise black voters and also to prolong the life of the GOP. Which would have collapsed long ago without it. Kind of hard to have a national party when your base is built around the personality of Eric Rudolph.

(Let's try this again -- my apologies if this winds up being a duplicate.)

There's more to this story than mere gerrymandering -- MUCH more. There's decades of practices clearly designed to disenfranchise chunks of the population -- no doubt why there are multiple lawsuits pending. See coverage here:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5552259.html

and here:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5554080.html

These students demonstrate a grasp of participatory democracy far beyond the feeble comprehension of those plaintively whining about possible commuter delays. I'm extremely proud of them and hope this is a sign of things to come -- a sign that Constitutional rights can and will be defended no matter how "inconvenient" that is for the complacent, the wealthy, and the stupid.

That's right. The county selects polling places, and they also have to find enough people to staff them. Draw what conclusions you will from that.

And yep, Texas has a grand tradition of gerrymandering. This last round of redistricting was a mess - the Democrats walked out twice. Once they went to Oklahoma, and the second time they went to New Mexico. The powerful folks in both parties seem to have the ability to carve out their own niches.

Don't get me started on our poster politician for term limits. Please.

good on them.

7 miles isn't crazy to me though. its a short bike ride and a totally feasible walk, although maybe not if you just got out of work and the polling stations are about to close.

What is more important than marching to vote? How about ambulances taking critical patients to hospital? How about delivering mothers trying to get to hospital? Cops chasing criminals? I know many around here see cops as fascists -- besides an idiotic statement and thought -- they do actually use the highways to get to crime scenes.

Early election places are ALWAYS inconvenient. I would bet your life that the Prairie View A&M; election day polling place was on campus or across the street. This is a STUNT.

Gerrymandering. I find it mildly ironic that black students blame Republicans for gerrymandering, when Democrats perfected the concept to keep Blacks from voting.

Pyro -- idiot -- learn what a fascist is -- it is a national SOCIALIST -- that's a left-wing ideology. Dolt. If you're gonna insult, do it with the right words.

What is more important than marching to vote? How about ambulances taking critical patients to hospital? How about delivering mothers trying to get to hospital? Cops chasing criminals? I know many around here see cops as fascists -- besides an idiotic statement and thought -- they do actually use the highways to get to crime scenes.

Early election places are ALWAYS inconvenient. I would bet your life that the Prairie View A&M; election day polling place was on campus or across the street. This is a STUNT.

Gerrymandering. I find it mildly ironic that black students blame Republicans for gerrymandering, when Democrats perfected the concept to keep Blacks from voting.

Pyro -- idiot -- learn what a fascist is -- it is a national SOCIALIST -- that's a left-wing ideology. Dolt. If you're gonna insult, do it with the right words.

Repairman is absolutely correct.

Student paper coverage:

http://media.www.pvpanther.com/media/storage/paper286/news/2008/02/20/CampusNews/Thousands.March.To.Vote-3222703.shtml

This is really sad.

We've turned this great nation into a third world country where people have to do outrageous things to vote.

If you denounce the protester you must be a fascist…nice logic there Takuan, you seem like a fascist to me, you just wear a different coat.

Any how, good for them, that must have been one hell of a walk.

A bit of context.

Prairie View A&M; is a historically and predominately black university in a predominately black town stuck square in the middle of a very good ol' boy oriented county, about 40 minutes west of Houston.

As anyone who has traveled the highways of this (usually) great state can tell you, the minute you leave the city limits of any metropolitan area, you are quickly transported upwards of 50 years back in time.

To think that the placement of the polling stations in this county was anything but a deliberate slight to the students is naive. Given the choice between a white woman and a black man, there is still a sadly oversized chunk of population in this state that will swallow its pride and grudgingly vote for the woman.

As mentioned above, donuts and driver's licenses are not civil liberties, but the right to vote is, and, as with the rest of the constitution that forms our legal foundation, should be defended at all costs.

P.S. Something I like to remind people in general, George W. Bush IS NOT from Texas. He was born in Connecticut, raised in Connecticut, educated in Connecticut, then woke up with a hangover in Texas one day and decided not to leave.

(Posted from the University of Texas at Austin, on a computer 4 minutes away from the polling station I took advantage of just yesterday)

This is a dangerous way to protest. As far as I know, ambulances and other emergency vehicles have not been endowed with hovering capabilities, and could potentially become trapped in traffic, endangering lives. Not to mention the folks that couldn't get to their polling stations because the roads were blocked. Kids should think before they do stuff like this.

All this arguing about gerrymandering (which is an unarguably awful practice no matter what party is involved) is noticing the oaks and missing the forest.

Hundreds, HUNDREDS of young, largely black voters marched miles and miles to participate in an election. They did not give in to apathy, they did not go online and blog about the unfairness, they went and did something about it.

They lit a candle rather than curse the darkness. That's a damn fine thing.

I'd wager that more of those students voted because they had to march seven miles than would have if the polling place was a hundred yards away.

Gotta say this is one of my favorite examples of civil disobedience that I've seen in a while. The students have a legitimate grievance with the polling place being 7 miles away. Sure they could take a bus or car pool but voting should be easy and part of your day. Not putting a polling place on campus where a large population is congregated is inane.

Gerrymandered districts are common in every state (except Colorado, evidently http://rangevoting.org/ColoradoFair.html).

I live in NC where we have the 12th Congressional district. http://rangevoting.org/NC_CDloc.pdf

It was created specifically to elect a black representative. http://watt.house.gov/

As for the driving distance, 7 miles is nothing in a rural area. In the last election, we only had one early voting location for the entire county in which I live. Some citizens live much more than 7 miles from the central board of elections office.

I understand they'll expand early voting locations this year, but they're also DECREASING the overall number of locations for Election Day due to a lack of volunteers/poll workers. You don't see us locking down traffic.

And keep in mind...this is Texas, not North Carolina...where there's huge expanses of open spaces.

According to Prairie View U's own press release: http://www.pvamu.edu/pages/122.asp?item=21300
"Waller County had reduced the number of early voting locations from about six around the county to only one at its courthouse because county officials said they could not afford to operate multiple early voting locations.

After getting pressure from federal government, the county added three early voting locations, still there was not one announced for the Prairie View campus, convenient to students. An early voting site will be open this weekend at a community center in Prairie View."

In other words, these folks were annoyed they didn't get an early voting location on their own campus. This is hardly up there with protesting the Viet Nam war.

Gerrymandered districts are common in every state (except Colorado, evidently http://rangevoting.org/ColoradoFair.html).

I live in NC where we have the 12th Congressional district. http://rangevoting.org/NC_CDloc.pdf

It was created specifically to elect a black representative. http://watt.house.gov/

As for the driving distance, 7 miles is nothing in a rural area. In the last election, we only had one early voting location for the entire county in which I live. Some citizens live much more than 7 miles from the central board of elections office.

I understand they'll expand early voting locations this year, but they're also DECREASING the overall number of locations for Election Day due to a lack of volunteers/poll workers. You don't see us locking down traffic.

And keep in mind...this is Texas, not North Carolina...where there's huge expanses of open spaces.

According to Prairie View U's own press release: http://www.pvamu.edu/pages/122.asp?item=21300
"Waller County had reduced the number of early voting locations from about six around the county to only one at its courthouse because county officials said they could not afford to operate multiple early voting locations.

After getting pressure from federal government, the county added three early voting locations, still there was not one announced for the Prairie View campus, convenient to students. An early voting site will be open this weekend at a community center in Prairie View."

In other words, these folks were annoyed they didn't get an early voting location on their own campus. This is hardly up there with protesting the Viet Nam war.

Two words: absentee ballot.

The commenters so far have missed pointing out that there is an issue of racism at work here too. The college is historically black.

Not that I'm saying an effort to disenfranchise college students is okay, but this is effort to disenfranchise minorities.

The student body (assuming they all live in the county) represents about 25% of the population of the county. That is a significant number of voters who should have access to a polling station.

The connection between this and the gerrymander is that this is a "republican county." Letting "those people" vote would endanger that.

Does anyone know if Texas was letting college students register to vote where they go to school before the court decision in 2004?

I always thought gerrymandering was bad, but anything that gets Americans walking (and 7 miles one way at a shot no less) may have some merits

#11: "Once again, the comments on Boing Boing amply demonstrate that the spirit of fascism is a live and well in America."

Hear hear, Pyros. Well said.

I will also say it is no coincidence that these kinds of off-the-scales cynical fraud takes place in the belly of the beast of 'mercun conservative christianity. Lyin', cheatin' hurtin'...all in Jeebus' name. Niiiiiice.

This was the EARLY polling place, not the ONLY polling place. The article says nothing of the location of the actual polling place on election day. Early voting is a cool thing but is not the only way to vote.

Disrupting traffic is all well and good until you stop a mother from picking their kid up from day care on time. Or stop someone from getting to work on time and getting them fired. Or delay a diabetic from getting to dialysis on time. Or block someone from getting to court on time.

If their primary, election-day polling place were seven miles from campus, I could understand being outraged.

This looks to me like Americans acting the way that Americans are supposed to act. It's about goddamn time. I hope they head to the airport next week and disrupt the TSA.

When we had an anti-development initiative on our ballot two years ago, our polling place was moved from the church where it's been for decades, to a rec room deep in the bowels of a huge condo complex. No signs, no directions. Next election: back to the church. Moving the polling place is a time-honored way to fuck the voters.

Besides, walking is good for us. We should do more of it.

It's funny that on the one hand so many people are of the opinion that driving is a 'privilege' rather than a right, but as soon as it's convenient suddenly driving is a 'right' in the sense that the obviously immature pedestrians must make way for cars.

The implication of driving being a privilege is that walking is a right, so if a driver is enraged to the point of having an aneurism just because they might arrive at their destination a few minutes later than they intended then they should just relax... or go ahead and let their brain explode (either one works for me).

For those complaining about the distance and not having a car, I'm willing to bet that the city has public transportation.

LOL, sounds like somebody needs to try using public transportation outside cities such as New York or San Francisco sometime. Like most towns and cities in the US, this one might have some kind of inadequate bus program, but good luck staying sane trying to use it...

I don't know how many of you live in Texas, but just for a little perspective, I need to comment that IT'S A BIG STATE. You can drive all day and still be in the same state. 7 miles is nothing, when you consider that.

I am from tx and went to tx a&m; in college station. I now live in portland (or). I can totally assure you what a redneck/backwards environment prevails there. prarie view is a historically black school and I can totally see the powers that be putting the polling place far away from the university... 'accidentally'. I still have tears in my eyes from reading this...rock on Voters!!!!

Not only is this a story about discrimination against college students, but it's also about discrimination against minorities. This is a historically black college we're talking about.

This has everything to do with the gerrymander - until recently (2004) it was okay to disenfranchise college students. The population of the school represents 25% of the population of that county. Presumably that would mean they'd be an even higher percentage of the eligible voting population. This is a republican county they're in - the whole point of the gerrymander is to avoid contests, with that many people who are "likely democrats."

Buying donuts and driving long distances are the sorts of things we assume young people are most interested in. But these students choose to engage in peaceful civil disobedience to draw attention to a major civil right/responsibility being thwarted in an underhand way.

Bravo to these students. The future is in good hands.

In case you were not aware, Prairie View A&M; is historically a black college that was moved into the Texas A&M; system because of years of discriminatory underfunding. This placement of the poll is not the first thing that has been done against the students by the county and state. For years they have been threatened and harassed about voting in this location period. Threats of charging them with voter fraud, clearing of the voting roles, it goes on. Remember this is Texas where discriminating against blacks in all manner is common still. The idea that this is just some sudden complaint by the students is as false as can be. Basically when they finally have the opportunity to vote thanks to all the law suits that had to happen there, they still get screwed by the white leadership there. I guess its sad once again how so many out here are so quick to defend the oppressors without any real understanding of the situation.

Prarie View A&M; is pretty remote, and it's obvious that at best, county officials were inconsiderate about placing polling stations so far away, even early voting. And the reason they walked down a highway? Because I doubt there are sidewalks for them to use instead.

@Bevatron Repairman: this is about voter disenfranchisement. Yes, all of Waller County is in the US 10th Congressional, but so is part of the City of Austin and part of Katy, a suburb of Houston, a distance of 134 miles. The 10th used to be Austin's district, but was stretched out through conservative rural areas (like Waller County) and into Houston's suburbs (also conservative) just to get Lloyd Doggett out of Congress. He moved to another district in Austin (yep, Austin got divided up between three districts; the 10th, the 21st, which stretches to San Antonio through conservative counties, and the 25th, which had stretched to Mexico until the courts called foul play) and won in the 25th. A single urban area with over a million people deserves it's own congressional district and not be forced to share with farflung, opposite minded communities.

Whether you make it difficult for a select group of people to vote (by placing polling places in inconventient locations) or diluting a population's ability to express itself at the polls (gerrymandering), it's still voter disenfranchisement.

Hey, what's all the hate directed at fascists? Fascists are people too!

I guess I'm on the fence here. On the one hand, not putting a polling place on a college campus--one of the places they usually are, and one of the places that makes the most sense--smells fishy to me. I'm inclined to believe it was done for a reason.

However, if I was driving to work and got stuck behind a mob of people, even if I agreed that what they were protesting was, indeed, bullshit, it wouldn't actually do anything to help the situation. It'd just piss me off. Walking along the side of the road would have been an effective way of calling attention that did not inconvenience people who couldn't do jack shit about it.

And that's the problem I always have with protesting. It is largely masturbatory. Real power brokers don't give two shits about protesting poor people (students, in this case), so all it really does is inconvenience would-be allies and may even turn them against the protesters. This was one of the biggest problems during the Iraq protests. So much of the population was so against the war, but when you saw people protesting, you saw the people who are ALWAYS protesting: Dred-headed deadheads. Young ones, mostly. The ones who can't seem to get it into their heads that the 60s are not only over, but they were never invited, and the people responsible for the bullshit they are protesting are the very ones who invented it.

It puts off the people who actually could effect change--people with money and influence--because those people are not into hanging out with filthy potheads who decry their way of life (until they themselves embrace it, anyway).

No, if you want to effect change, you need the ears and minds of the people who can make it happen. Failing that, you can always just kill the people causing the trouble, but then you're going down a nasty road to something like opposition Iraq.

Protesting does nothing but make you feel better and others feel worse.

Protesting does nothing but make you feel better and others feel worse.

Hey, why don't you go spray paint that on the Berlin Wall?

@ #59
I agree that protesting doesn't have the same effect that it once did, but I don't think the problem is the people protesting (I didn't see a single "dred-headed deadhead" in that video, by the way). Protests are intended to attract attention to a problem and arouse the sympathy of the public, inspiring more and more people to take action. Unfortunately, much of the American public is so cynical they have no sympathy left to arouse. So what do we do when our government has turned against us and protesting is useless? Besides bitching on the internet? Any ideas?

#59--Who directed hate at any fascists? At least you don't question that it is fascists we are dealing with here.

Clearly this isn't your problem. I wonder what action you think would be warranted if you felt you had suffered a gross injustice or if your rights had been violated.

So many of the Southern Jihadists/ AmeroFascists seem to bitterly despise anything fucking up their dive-in, cheap oil fiesta utopia. They have a divine right to the road and loathe the idea of ever having to get their fat asses out of their trucks and SUVs. And they come up with the lamest crap. Taking these spurious arguments to their logical end, one might say,"What if there was a toddler trapped down a well and the students were blocking traffic so that emergency personnel couldn't get through to save her?" This is absurd.

The point of the protest wasn't to block traffic, but to show their willingness to overcome the distance obstacle put up to discourage democratic participation. They were marching to the polling place, right? They had to get there somehow and simply decided to take the most direct route. If they had been bussed or car-pooled, they would have been acquiescing to the dictates of power and they would not have been making a statement.

I wonder, Mr. Armburster, if you ever think civil disobedience is called for?

What about the traffic jams that already block ambulances every day? By this tortured logic, we should make sure no cars are on the roads during peak rush hour traffic. Mr. Armburster, how many traffic jams have you been in in your life? Most people endure about two a day. Are you angry that the public officials where you lived haven't instituted a more effective mass transit system? Or have you just been conditioned to take it without protest? But when students are marching down the road to protest something that should be a fundamental American right then it is just intolerable to endure the horrendous inconvenience.

In the minds of these status quo enablers, the ideal place to protest is inside as was the case during the Republican National Convention held in New York during the '04 elections, or maybe out in the middle of nowhere (Marfa?) out of sight, out of mind.

What I have noticed on Boing Boing and other internet sites is that when there examples clear and gross abuse of power--whether it is a cop assaulting a kid for no apparent reason, or government officials down south fucking with people's right to vote, there isn't universal outrage as there should be. Invariably some crap head will defend the cop or the racist/southern jihadist/amerofascist action.

I agree that protesting doesn't have the same effect that it once did...

Codswallop. When was the last time that you went out and marched in a picket line or leafleted outside the grocery store? Since the American media reports almost nothing, we have to make the news and deliver it. If it hadn't been for civil rights marches, we'd still have segregated schools. Protesters literally and physically tore down the Berlin Wall. To dismiss the efforts of hundreds of millions of protesters throughout history and across the globe is a testament to your own apathy, despair and laziness. Nothing else. If you can't bring yourself to take any greater risk or effort than a comment on BB, please have the common decency not to criticize people who care enough to get out and do something. Shame.

I'm an Oregonian; we vote by mail. So simple and easy, you'd think every state would do it. Maybe, to paraphrase Lord Buckley, it's so simple it evades them.

Texas? Been there, fuck that!

#63
You completely misunderstood what I was saying. I DO engage in protest! Of course I know how effective protest has been throughout the course of history! Damn! I was saying that if protesting is no longer as effective as it should be, it's not the fault of the protesters. It's the cynicism and apathy of the general public that's at fault. And, as you said yourself, the media no longer reports anything. Attracting the attention of the media is part of a successful protest. So what do we do differently to attract attention and arouse public sympathy? I'm asking for honest suggestions. Don't attack me, Antinous, we're on the same side!

U.S. Elections
National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2006
Year Voting-age
population Voter
registration Voter turnout Turnout of voting-age
population (percent)
2006 220,600,000 135,889,600 80,588,000 43.6%
2004 221,256,931 174,800,000 122,294,978 55.3
2002 215,473,000 150,990,598 79,830,119 37.0
2000 205,815,000 156,421,311 105,586,274 51.3
1998 200,929,000 141,850,558 73,117,022 36.4
1996 196,511,000 146,211,960 96,456,345 49.1
1994 193,650,000 130,292,822 75,105,860 38.8
1992 189,529,000 133,821,178 104,405,155 55.1
1990 185,812,000 121,105,630 67,859,189 36.5

And by the way, I think what these students did is fantastic! What bothers me is that there are so many people, on BB nonetheless, who are completely unmoved by it. It breaks my heart and makes me fear for the future of this country.

Don't attack me, Antinous, we're on the same side!

I was just using your quote as a launching pad for my barrage of bile. Sorry. I, too, am horrified at how many BBers snark at people who actually leave the house to foment social change.

@ Antinous
No problem. I don't mind launching your bile. And I certainly don't want to be enemies with someone who uses the word "codswallop"!!

#33 posted by Troy
Pyro -- idiot -- learn what a fascist is -- it is a national SOCIALIST -- that's a left-wing ideology. Dolt. If you're gonna insult, do it with the right words.

And here we have the bone stupid meme of Jonah "Doughy Pantload" Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism". Of course it never occurs to the mouthbreathers that the Nazi's lied in order to get elected and then promptly showed their true colors. Sort of like how Bush called himself a "compassionate" conservative. Why don't you tell us Troy, how us liberals are fascists because we tend to be vegetarians just like Hitler!!eleventy11!!"

could we just use dictionary definitions and other usages based in fact? Or better still,stop being so lazy and reverting to labels. Write simple,declarative sentences.

Darmok

How dare those poor uppity urban black youth (niggers) inconvenience my drive home !

That's how you look, like crotchety racists.

I was thinking more marklars.

I was marklaring that Marklar only marklared in canned marklars from a single culturally marklared marklar, but I marklar your marklar.

see? If there is only good will, perfect communication is possible.

Verbum sat.

Coming late to this discussion. Protest I say! Shout about it from the highest rooftops. That's the problem in this country, *not enough protest* - my god! There is so much wrong with this nation at this moment in history - that bright light you see down the way, in the tunnel - is that a train? What I don't understand is why there is not *more* protests and demonstrations. Voting in America - primary right numero uno - that's one thing. If someone is going to blatantly make it "inconvenient" for me to vote - I'll protest alright. But why - why is there no protests about the stupid, stupid, war going on in Iraq and Afghanistan? I, too, am a little confused about the seeming right-wing contingent hanging out at Boing Boing these days. Did Rush Limbaugh do a feature on Boing Boing recently?

Wholehearted agreed. I have personal distaste for protest done by people who really have just hoppped on a bandwagon, but honest protest driven by real indignation is precious gold.

The chilling of the past decade must be reversed.What started perhaps as apathy has been hijacked by people with an agenda and vested interest in a repressive status quo. Regardless of what group carries the next American election,there had best be protest and plenty of to reverse the evil done todate.

I, too, am a little confused about the seeming right-wing contingent hanging out at Boing Boing these days. Did Rush Limbaugh do a feature on Boing Boing recently?

They have learned how to goggle. It was bound to happen sooner or later. And for most BB posts you get a smattering of comments from people who have an interest in the subject. There is only a small number who post with any frequency.

And I just like saying smattering.

I am now annoyed enough to comment. I am one of the people who thinks the "protest" was silly and meaningless. They and the people who support them simply don't know who or what they are protesting against. Several comments have touched upon gerrymandering (which is done to make more partisan districts on both sides), raciscm, and other things which have absolutley no relation to the county's polling choices. The links to the county polling information are below. I seriously doubt any of the commenters above or the marching students actually read those pages.

A) This is for the *Primary*. Racism and gerrymandering don't matter when it's only democrats voting between Hillary and Obama.

B) This is EARLY voting. Early voting is only available at 4 locations county-wide. There are 18 regluar voting locations on March 4.

C) And the most sailent for last: The students only had to wait TWO days for an on-campus EARLY voting location. That's right -- there IS an ON-CAMPUS EARLY voting location. However, it is a branch location, and open for fewer days.

Waller Early Polling Locations: http://www.co.waller.tx.us/ips/cms/modules/news/news_0002.html?uri=/news.html

Waller Standard Polling Locations:
http://www.co.waller.tx.us/ips/cms/modules/news/news_0003.html?uri=/news.html

In conclusion, I hate all of you ignoramuses.

Oh, and

4) Mail ballot was also available to the students for this election. They just had to send in the application by the 26th.

The article to which the post linked is headlined "Texas Early Voting Wave as Reaction to Systemic Disenfranchisement". Assuming that your statements are all correct, they're not necessarily relevant. Plus, a large portion of the discussion on this thread has been about the efficacy of protest in general. Oh, and calling us ignoramuses and telling us that you hate us doesn't really help your argument. But have a nice marklar anyway.

Great, systemic disenfranchisement. Of which this is no example.

If someone were to protest the Chinese treatment of the falun gong at my local PF Chang's by obstructing people from entering, I would hope that everyone here would consider me silly. Yea, there's an issue. But the people I'm annoying and the place and time I'm protesting actually have very little in common with the offences I ostensibly oppose. It only makes sense to people who are superficial enough to associate Chinese people with oppressing religion.

You've annoyed me enough to warrant another comment, Antinous.

Don't assume what I said was true. Check my links, or search for yourself. Equally you shouldn't assume what Cory or anyone else at BoingBoing links to is true, either. (As evidenced by recently disappearing posts) Be skeptical.

they could have made any number of symbolic gestures or actions. They chose to march.

They could have made any number of meaningful gestures. Instead, they chose to make ignorant statments and platitude-filled blog posts. Their symbolic gesture made at the wrong time has only shown their ignorance of the issues they oppose.

"Texas Republicans have worked overtime to make it harder for key Democratic voting groups to vote and be represented fairly. The redistricting games they've played are infamous." -- This is completely irrelevant for a primary vote.

"And for the Prairie View A&M; University precincts, they put the early-polling place more than seven miles from the school." -- If you read the link I gave above, this is FALSE. There ARE early polling locations on campus.

@58 Dave: I'll assume for purposes of this discussion that this was indeed a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise these students. I wasn't trying to argue that. My point is that regardless of how much gerrymandering is going on there, the location of polling places has nothing to do with gerrymandering.

At the end of the day, an individual votes through the mechanisms provided by through the county unless you vote from oversees through the US military or the State Department (and even then, it's mostly county-issued absentee ballots). If Waller County were atomized into a districts that ran to El Paso in one direction and Port Orange in another, these kids would still vote through the Waller county board of elections or county clerk or whoever runs the system there.

It may well be about voter access, but this is not about gerrymandering, not one little bit.

@ 11 - Pyros

I agree with everything you said except one small fact.

"I would expect in Kenya, some Balkan states, maybe South America, but not in America."

I would expect this in America. Infact I'd be suprised NOT to hear this sort of story during a US election and I live on the other side of the world. (Australia).

When I was in the states I heard a lot of people talk about it being 'a free Country' and 'freedom' hell everything was about 'freedom'.

Yet you don't have as much freedom as you think. Oh yes you might be legally allowed a gun, but compare your rights in the US to half of europe and you're looking pretty controlled.

Rigged elections, being arrested for photographing buildings from the street, some absurdly tight drug laws... the list could go on.

Last month my boyfriend, who is a veteran Marine and Gulf War vet, and I visited DC to see the sights. My background is very different from his - while he was serving as an NCO in the Marines, I was in ACT UP.

Still, both of us were really moved by the Jefferson memorial and the ideas of democracy contained therein - it was our favorite of all the places we visited. While Jefferson *was* a bundle of contradictions, his basic spirit was something both of us felt strongly about and we were both pretty moved. This was the democracy we both had fought for an believed in. Here was a founding father who felt that you don't just accept the status quo but that you always challenge and re-invent your government rather than fall back on "what our founding fathers intended."

What does this have to do with these students? Well, for whatever the reason they give me hope - and in them I see some resolution to the dissonance I see between our current government and the ideals we aspire to.

Bravo to all of them - someone has to remind us that democracy has real value and that politician's efforts to undermine real democracy are truly dangerous to the well being of our society.

This just goes to show that it takes the blocking of a PRECIOUS highway in order to get Americans to take notice of a protest. If the students had their protest on or near their university grounds then NOBODY would give a shit what they were protesting about. (Don't tell me that you think differently, average person)

Any person or persons who take steps to thwart or otherwise disrupt their countryman's vote should be held to account for it. This includes people who misinform others about where and when to vote. I've seen and heard numerous examples of this and it absolutely sickens me.

Gerrymandering is one of the most storied,time-honored ways of screwing the people out of effective political representation while greatly benefitting the politicians and parties who so deprive them.