Adult Up All You Namby-Pamby D.C.ers Who Don’t Vote Here
Emily Richardson, pictured below wearing a beet costume, lives in Mount Pleasant where she is politicking against McCain. (Of course she lives in Mt. P. Hello? She's wearing a fucking beet costume.) But Emily Richardson, like so many of you hypocrite D.C.ers who espouse to love your city, voted where her parents live. These people are all over this District whining about politics. We even have these sorts of people on our own staff at City Paper. I'm sorry to publicly call you out (Ruth Samuelson and, I am shocked to find out, Dave McKenna), but adult up, people.
If you're going to vote, vote where you live. Vote for candidates who represent you, not your parents. When you turned 18 some time ago, you were given the right to be an adult. I, for one, want you to live up to it.
Do you hear me, Emily Richardson? You may care enough to wear a beet costume several days after Halloween and carry artful anti-McCain signs, but you do not care about Mount Pleasant. If you did, you'd register in D.C., you'd vote for your local ANC rep and for your at-large councilperson and you would vote for Eleanor with the hope that some day Eleanor's vote will count, too. Until you do, I do not abide your beet puns; I do not support you telling me, a District voter, how to vote.
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5:26 pm
In most cases I agree, but democrats whose parents live in Ohio, Virginia... go ahead and keep your registration. Republicans, you heard the man, adult up!
5:30 pm
Lady.
5:37 pm
gender pwn
5:39 pm
Not only is it crappy to hold on to your old state, it's also voter fraud.
Hell, I gave up my prior state to be an independent in DC. That's like shredding your vote before throwing it away. Today is the first legitimately competitive race I have voted in.
5:56 pm
Yeah I think it is total bullshit to argue that you moved your liberal ass here to the city but you want to vote at home to skew the vote in your battleground state you could not wait to leave. Your home is here or there, beet girl. Love it (and vote in it) or leave it.
6:16 pm
Amen. Vote where you live. Otherwise you shortchange the District.
8:03 pm
i was born in Washington DC, but moved three days later to Northern Virginia after they kicked my out of the hospital, i now reside here in Mount Pleasant with deep love. thus, i voted here in DC. and so i certainly agree that anyone with sufficient ties to their current place of residence should register to vote and subsequently vote where they reside. however, before spouting off at the mouth (via blog), make sure you know your facts. how long has Emily lived in the city? does she plan to stay here? are her ties greater to Maryland than they are to DC? sure, she could have canvassed in Maryland today, but who knows whether she had the means or time to do so or whether she could've gotten out of there alive?
local elections are certainly important, and a strong and valid argument can be made for the position that they should take precedence over state elections, but as we are somehow still denied the right to vote here in the district, that decision should be made by the individual voter. a vote here in the district may indeed bring Eleanor Holmes Norton back to the house to voice our cause, but a vote for level-headed senators and congresspersons in Maryland and other states who would and could vote for legislation to give us our overdue representation is equally to be applauded.
for the record, i live with Emily, and not only does she rock, but you can't beet her.
10:50 am
As a recent college grad and former life-long Connecticut resident currently residing in DC (Columbia Heights), I actually tried to change my registration to vote in the District yet found it unexpectedly tedious and difficult. In fact, when I called the DC voter registration hotline and explained the details of my situation, even they recommended I vote absentee for CT. For the many transient recent college grads like me who a) don't want or need a DC driver's license, b) may not have their name on a formal lease (because they are subletting, living in a group house, etc.) & c) know that they face a high probablility of moving out of the District within a matter of months, even if it is to NOVA or elsewhere just outside the city, it can be genuinely difficult to change registration. I think it is also important to note that all the Hill staffers are eligible for reciprocity, and for all you know Ms. Richardson could be included in that group.
Instead of criticizing transcient young voters, I think we should applaud them for making the extra effort to vote--whether that means driving out of state or signing up for and mailing in an absentee ballot. In most national elections, the fact is that a majority of people in our age group don't vote at all.
Perhaps those still critical of us DC-absentee-ers can also focus their energy on clearing up the process of changing voter registration. For example, when you try to register online for DC voting, the site identifies your voter registration in another state and bars you from proceeding with the online form without any explantion of how to essentially "un-register" elsewhere.