Voting Qualifications

January 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There are rules.  In the past, voting rules discriminated against groups such minorities, the disabled,  and women.  Discriminating against these groups prevented the balance of power from changing.  No  say. No power. Now voting is one area where rules are less than in the past.  Most of the laws instead of exclusion, now protect the rights of individuals.

What are the qualifications for voting?.  You have to be a citizen of the United States.  America is a country of immigrants, but to exercise your right to vote, you have to be a native or go through the process of citizenship. The Twenty-sixth amendment states one has to be at least the age of eighteen.  By that time you have had the opportunity to become educated about our nation and its issues.  A person needs a residence, or an address.   Requiring a residence prevents someone from organizing a group that trips the light fantastic by voting numerous times for certain candidates.  The Nineteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution prevent anyone from disqualifying someone from voting because of ethnicity or sex.

Rules that disqualify a person from voting are not in every state, but are present.  If one has been officially declared mentally incompetent, you are not allowed to vote.  If one is currently residing in prison, you do not get a vote.  Conviction of election fraud removes your privilege to vote. If you have no residence and are homeless, unfortunately, you do not get to vote.

Registering  to vote is a good idea.  Registration is the process where you certify your qualifications and are placed on the voting lists.  You generally receive a card periodically stating you are an eligible voter.  Taking the card to an election speeds the process of getting to vote.  If you do not have a card, the volunteers there will certify you for voting anyway.

Exercise your right to vote and change the world. It worked for our forefathers.

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Planning to Vote

December 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Second round of the French presidential electi...
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For many people, voting is a valued right that many plan on taking advantage of on election days.However for some election day comes all too fast. With poll times throughout the day, even the busiest people may not have enough time, or make enough time, to vote on election day.

Alternatively, others may not vote due to lack of memory. This unfortunately occurs for some individuals on election day as well. Forgetting to vote does happen, however. Taking the time to plan to vote is one important way to combat such oversights. This can overcome any difficulties relating to lack of time on election day. This can also overcome not being able to remember when to vote as well.

Planning to vote can be extremely simple. Taking note on your calendar is the easiest way to do this. If you have any scheduling conflicts on election days, perhaps you could rearrange your schedule or look at all of the election times for such dates. Carefully approaching election days in regards to planning to vote is essential. The right to vote can be easily undermined by simple oversights.

When it comes time to vote, plan out your schedule definitively to make sure you vote. Any scheduling conflicts can be worked out if you do so in advance. Additionally, check with balloting sites to confirm times. In many cases, you will have a choice of times that could make scheduling easier for you.

Do not underestimate your schedule and timing on voting days. Your right to vote is extremely important. Take time to schedule out election days to ensure that you make the most out of your right to vote. With some care you can ensure you have the time to and remember to vote. Election days can go smoothly with a little bit of awareness of timing and scheduling conflicts that may impede your ability to vote.

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Fighting Child Obesity with the Child Nutrition Legislation

September 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you’re a parent, you may be concerned, like many parents across the country, about the rise in children obesity. More and more children are being diagnosed with type II diabetes, which is preventable. The First Lady, Michelle Obama, is working to combat this issue with her “Let’s Move!” campaign which would work to encourage children to be more active. She’s also working to pass the Child Nutrition legislation that will provide more reduced-price meals and free meals at public schools and for the meals provided at schools to provide better nutrition.

When the legislation was brought before the Senate at the beginning of August 2010, it was passed unanimously. Now it needs to be passed by the House of Representatives.

To help with the cost of these meals, which require higher nutrition standards, and to allow more low-income families to receive free meals or meals at a reduced cost, the legislation would include increased federal funding. To encourage this legislation to pass, Michelle Obama spoke on September 8 at a school in Sidell, Louisiana. This school was chosen because it was part of a program that promoted eating healthy and exercising. Because of this, it received cash rewards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Her speech concentrated mostly on the finer points of her campaign to move more and eat better. She also mentioned how important nutrition in schools meals is to academic performance. According to her campaign’s website, the rates of child obesity have triples just in the last 30 years. It also states that it’s estimated that a full third of children born in this century (since 2000) will develop diabetes sometime with in their lifetimes. That’s a staggering number and really sad to hear, especially since so many medical conditions accompany obesity including high blood pressure, asthma, cancer, and heart disease.

The best way to help our kids is to be active ourselves. Not only will we be a good example to our children, being active naturally will lead to them being active. If we go on a walk, for example, they’ll come too!

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