How to spend election day?

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Cdn_Gringo

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Virgo and company...

I started this thread in an attempt to begin the day with a little bit of levity and amusement. You've gone and ruined that. Now it's all serious and whiny.

Stop ruining ALL of the threads just because you can. Regurgitate all you want in Off Topic but kindly leave some place for those who choose enjoy a bit of discourse employing a touch of satire, pathos, hyperbole and more than a bit of jocularity. Not everything thread needs to suffer your monosyllabic grunts.
 
Oct 11, 2010
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To the OP before our newest Dominican apologist gets this thread closed.

You live fairly close to the voting station in Sosua, the public school. Take a walk over and check it out. Observe the process first hand. If you haven't seen it before I think you will find it quite interesting. You have the luxury of being able to see FIRST HAND, with a little close but DISCREET observation, how things really work down here. Don't just look and leave, walk around a little further away from the school entrance. Go around the corner closer to Casa Marina. I don't know how good your Spanish is but it probably isn't very necessary, just watch. I am going there myself after I finish my lunch.

Take a look, at the very least it will be interesting, and depending on how long you have been living down here you might be surprised on how certain "electioneering" processes transpire. I've been watching the process for years down here and have never been let down.
 

Virgo

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Oct 26, 2013
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There is little doubt that we expats should stay at home today.....it is the safest place...... and we should certainly not being close to a polling station as you so stupidly suggested in an earlier post.

The polling today is unfortunately chaotic from what I have been told. And it is not surprising when you read the latest news....
None of what you say imply that there is threat of violence at the polling places.

There are over 16,000 polling places, which probably require about 200,000 poll officers and staff (including party delegates) nationwide.
It is a bit strange that 3000 of them resigned at the last minute, but still it is a tiny percentage of all involved (about 1.5%). So, over 98% showed up as expected.

In any case, that has nothing to do with actual violence at the polling places.

Maybe you should try turning on the TV and watching election coverage (if you can understand Spanish). I am yet to hear of ANY report of actual violence. I suppose in the areas where most expats are located the probabilities are even lower. There definitely is a lot of security personnel around the polling places.
 

Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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There is little doubt that we expats should stay at home today.....it is the safest place...... and we should certainly not being close to a polling station as you so stupidly suggested in an earlier post.

The polling today is unfortunately chaotic from what I have been told. And it is not surprising when you read the latest news....

http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...presidentes-de-colegios-electorales-XM3680716

http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...ada-de-retrasar-proceso-de-votacion-CJ3685422

Is this turning into a shambles? A dedicated government body to manage the elections...the JCE......seems to be making huge errors all the way.

Electronic voting.....last minute change to manual counts for Presidential poll then later all polls. Then the above with 3000 technical staff involved in process being withdrawn due to supposed political links. Then polling stations opening late apparently as a result of the technician withdrawals.

And Cedulas being sold.

What next?

Dominicans should take exception to paid public bodies getting in such a mess and your energies would be better directed at the shambles your country folk have concocted no doubt at huge tax payer costs. But you prefer to attack the posters of current news in all of your press outlets.

I think its clear Virgo' has one agenda and will continue his outcries to defend it. We are all living here for one reason to complain about the DR with our stereotypical lies. These types of posters come and go and really offer no value other than a confrontational stance as they hate to hear the negatives about their country and their people. Its our fault (the gringo) as to why the DR is in such a mess. Luckily we have the ability to block a poster which may be the preferred option by many very soon.
 

Cdn_Gringo

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Just got back. Was easy to find the polling place. Sosua isn't all that big and I just had to look and listen. Chaotic to say the least. Had a couple of conversations with folks and generally they seemed hopeful that the process is a fair reflection of the people's hopes and dreams...of being able to get their vehicle out from within that morass.
 

Matilda

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Sep 13, 2006
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This is a blog from San Pedro de Macoris
Source: http://www.macorisdelmar.com/index....proceso-electoral-en-s-p-m&catid=8&Itemid=102

I have only translated the bits in bold – cedula buying on a massive scale and people waiting for someone to pay them to vote.

En medio de dificultades se desarrolla el proceso electoral en los centros de votaci?n de este municipio.
En muchos de ellos se retras? el inicio de los votos por problemas t?cnicos y luego se inici? de manera manual, luego de la presencia de los t?cnicos de la Junta Central Electoral.
En algunos colegios electorales los sufragantes debieron esperar un largo rato para ejercer su derecho al voto.
En muchos de esos centros se observo las compra masivas de cedulas.
En centros de votaci?n como la Escuela Ana Josefa Puello, el Colegio Juan Pablo Duarte, la escuela de Villa Progreso y otros, se observ? a muchas personas en esas acciones contrarias a la ley.
En otros se observo a muchos votantes fuera del centro de votaci?n, esperando que les compraran el voto.
Por primera vez en la historia electoral dominicana se coloco un centro de votaci?n en el Centro de Correccion y Rehabilitacion de esta ciudad.
En todos los centros de votaci?n se ha dado preferencia ancianos e impedidos f?sicos para ejercer su derecho al voto.
En lo relativo al comercio, muchos establecimientos permanecieron con sus puertas cerradas al centro de esta ciudad, pero otros se observaron abiertos, como el caso de Almacenes Iberia.

Translating the bits in bold: In many of the centers one could see a massive buying of cedulas.
In others, many voters were outside the polling station hoping someone would pay for their vote

The same as every year.

Matilda
 

AlterEgo

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Virgo

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Oct 26, 2013
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How sad is that????

Once again, please explain how do the buyer know that the seller won't take the money and just vote for whichever candidate s/he was going to vote any way.

Even vote buyers don't like to throw their money away. Does that make sense?

Same for those who allegedly "buy cedulas". How can they be sure they don't end up buying the cedula of someone who would have not voted anyhow, or would have voted for the buyer's own candidate (or perhaps would take the money and still vote for her/his preferred candidate with another cedule that the 'seller' had obtained after claiming to have lost the first one).

Without those clarifications we can safely assume that the allegations are just that.
 

Virgo

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Oct 26, 2013
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This is a blog from San Pedro de Macoris
Source: http://www.macorisdelmar.com/index....proceso-electoral-en-s-p-m&catid=8&Itemid=102

I have only translated the bits in bold – cedula buying on a massive scale and people waiting for someone to pay them to vote.
Translating the bits in bold: In many of the centers one could see a massive buying of cedulas.
In others, many voters were outside the polling station hoping someone would pay for their vote

The same as every year.

Matilda
That is what this guy says. Do you know iwho he works for?

He makes all sort of allegations, then post a bunch of pictures which you'd think would back up his allegations...then you see that the pics do not back any of what he claims.

Last elections they made the same sort of allegations of cedula buying, yet the turn out ended up being 70% which is higher than it is in many places nearby (including the US).

You can't have it both ways. If a lot of people are selling their right to vote it has got to affect the TO. That is clear, right?
 

Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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There is no point in having elections if there is a massive sell-out of votes. It's sad the people feel this way but it could be considered a direct result of the pittance spent on education. Keep the people uneducated and keep buying their votes due to there desperation for money.
If that's the acceptable norm the current regime and all the goodness it has provided over the past 2 decades (more or less) will become permanent. Some may argue there has never been a real democracy in the DR more so a Plutocracy. Could we be witnessing an even scarier change ahead?!
 

Virgo

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Oct 26, 2013
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What point are you trying to make Virgo?
That if you are actually buying votes you need a mechanism to be sure the 'seller' actually votes for your candidate. Otherwise it's just a gift, which the 'seller' can take and still vote as she intended anyhow.

Why is that so hard to understand?
 

Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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That is what this guy says. Do you know iwho he works for?

He makes all sort of allegations, then post a bunch of pictures which you'd think would back up his allegations...then you see that the pics do not back any of what he claims.

Last elections they made the same sort of allegations of cedula buying, yet the turn out ended up being 70% which is higher than it is in many places nearby (including the US).You can't have it both ways. If a lot of people are selling their right to vote it has got to affect the TO. That is clear, right?

If they can sell their votes would that help increase voter turnout?
 

Virgo

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Oct 26, 2013
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There is no point in having elections if there is a massive sell-out of votes. It's sad the people feel this way but it could be considered a direct result of the pittance spent on education. Keep the people uneducated and keep buying their votes due to there desperation for money.

Before going on with your speculation, just tell us how do the alleged buyer knows the 'seller' actually vote the way the buyer wants. Does that make sense to you?
See my previous post.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Mr C just got back from voting in Ver?n. He saw people approaching voters outside the school to buy their c?dulas in plain sight.
 

Matilda

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Sep 13, 2006
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Virgo please, take it from me I know a lot, far too much, about what happens during Dominican elections. There is no point is saying how does the person know who they will vote for the facts are this. 1. There is massive buying of cedulas, always has been always will be and Fact 2. Many people expect to be paid to vote for you. End of story whether it is logical or not. The aim of the game is to make as much money TODAY as possible and the aim of the candidate is to do as much as possible WITH THE HOPE OF winning.Logic does not come into it.

Matilda
 
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