Election Rumor Control is Kind of Depressing

Take a look at this page from the Maryland State Board of Elections. http://www.elections.state.md.us/press_room/rumor_control.html

These rumors are sad. I remember some of them from the last cycle. For instance someone was passing out red flyers in the poorer neighborhoods around here with the rumor about getting arrested at the polling places. The one about one party voting on the fifth was also rampant.

I'd read about a couple of others in the papers. I'm just wondering how many people who might have believed these rumors had access to the internet, or thought to go to the official site to to find out for sure.

I posted about my voting experience at Scalzi's site but I didn't mention that I woke up sick as a dog. I took some medicine to stop me throwing up then threw up for twenty minutes straight. The medicine can't really work if I've vomited it out. I finally got it together and made it to the polls, where there was a nice long line.

It was a great deal of effort but well worth it. Cullen voted for the first time, which was exciting. Seeing all sorts of different people voting, some beaming with pride, some sighing big sighs of relief and some stoic was moving.

Vote no on question two in Maryland

UMBC has released a study that looks at the possible outcomes of adding 15,000 slot machines to Maryland, a state with fewer than six million residents. You can download the pdf file here. http://www.umbc.edu/mipar/documents/ImpactofIntroducingVideoLotteryTerminalsFINAL.pdf

The results are quite discouraging, even if you are a proponent of gambling. The state's projected income appears to be far too high, counting on regaining every dollar spent by Maryland residents in neighboring states as well as anticipating 150% new gamblers. Pennsylvania has only recouped 20 percent of their residents who travel to play the slots.

Since the money spent on gambling must come from somewhere, other state income falls, whether from lower lottery sales or decreased sales tax.

There there is the cost, including a large initial outlay to get the slots up and running. Once they are going there is the social cost, which can be devastating, including divorce, suicide, addiction, increased crime, etc.

Appendix A of the UMBC report is six pages outlining the social costs and precisely how these numbers were arrived at.

If you're planning to vote in Maryland you should read about what this proposed change to our constitution can do to our society. Don't just listen to the "you know for kids" mantra that's running on the television all the time. Take a good hard look at the numbers and then make your decision.