good morning John as it is getting
closer to election time here in the US
expect to hear more about campaigns and
candidates and finances and issues and
voting of course and I want to talk
about that last thing today here in the
US we are of course 50 different United
States plus some confusing things that
is not just some symbolic thing most
government happens at the state and
local levels and that includes election
laws here there are some weaknesses to
that system it increases the chances
that some things might get done poorly
or even in bad faith to intentionally
manipulate outcome and it makes it
impossible to make one video saying how
to get registered in vote in every state
which is why some friends and I made
dozens of videos about that so that you
can look at your state and figure out
exactly how it works where you are but
there is also a strength to this system
it allows us to try 50 different systems
in 50 different states and when one of
those systems works well other states
can adopt those systems when one state
tries something on that doesn't work
nobody else tries it and while though
I'm through and making our youtube
series how to vote in every state I did
discover some strangeness is so here are
some of the weirdest election laws in
the US one in the state of Vermont which
a Historical Preservation Society has
declared in its entirety an endangered
place there is a suitably quaint law you
must be administered of voters oath in
order to register to vote it used to be
that you had to have a notary listen to
you say the oh now you can administer
yourself the oath you still have to do
it but you can do it alone quietly just
whisper whisper the oath to yourself and
then sign the little form it makes me
suspect that a number of people don't
actually self administer the oath but to
all of the people who do I just want to
say I love you that's great in three of
the United States there are no polling
places anymore Colorado Washington and
Oregon everybody votes by mail which
decreases the cost of Elections and
increases the number of people who
participate in elections interestingly
and maybe coincidentally all three of
those states have legalized marijuana
some people maybe don't want to go out
number three in North Dakota you
don't have to register to vote if you
live in North Dakota you just vote one
assumes that this is because there's
only a few dozen North Dakotans number
four in Nevada
there are pop-up early voting locations
so instead of going to a polling place
on polling day if you happen to be like
at hot top a might wander out and find a
pop up early voting location right there
in the mall this is wonderful and it's
one of the reasons why over 60% of
Nevadans vote early number 5 online
voting registration has exploded
recently now more than half of states
allow you to register to vote on the
internet as long as you have a driver's
license usually in 2015 no States
automatically registered you to vote
when you got a driver's license or
updated your driver's license how just
three years later 13 different states
automatically register you to vote
because why not there are some people
who think that if you don't register you
don't get jury duty and that's not true
and finally number six there is one
place where you can't register online
and you don't get automatically
registered and you don't even get to
register by mail in New Hampshire you
have to take your physical body to your
town clerk's office to register in
person Thank You New Hampshire for
reminding us how bad it used to be for
every well I think is an important thing
note that over the years it has gotten
easier to register to vote and to vote
in some places people are trying to push
that back and they have succeeded some
having the right to vote and having the
ability to vote in the elections that
matter most to our local communities and
also to the world is a wonderful thing
to be able to do and if you want to
learn more about how to best get it done
in your place even go to youtube.com
slash how to vote in every state it's
time to get it together in this
exceptional if peculiar country of ours
John I'll see you on Tuesday