Ghost Voting

New voting technology is being installed in the Texas House of Representatives in response to public outcry about ghost voting. When the press reported that some lawmakers were casting votes for other lawmakers the public responded in horror. The new technology will be activated by fingerprints making sure that everybody casts there own vote. The fingerprint scanners will cost the tax payers $128,000.

The fingerprint voting will be on a voluntary basis. How is something on a voluntary basis going to stop ghost voting when the many of the lawmakers have no problem with ghost voting in the first place. The men and women that make our laws are only called to do so five month every two years. This is a very short amount of time to vote on some 6,000 plus bills. There is very little time for the representatives to preform their duty as representatives and complete all the other things inherent in politics (speaking with; lobbyists, constituents, the press.) The new machines seem to just be covering up the greater issue of the fact that the representatives need more time to do what is expected of them. Trying to cram so much politics, policy, and lawmaking into the small time they have would be difficult for anyone to do. Neither political party has calmed that the ghost voting has been abused or gone over the line.

It may be that the press embellished the story, or it may be the average Texan's distrustfulness of the government that caused the huge outcry for change. But it seems that we need to spend more time worrying about the bills being passed and the very Texas House of Representatives itself they we need to be worrying about how the Lawmakers do there jobs.