Front page news in the Oregonian on this Sunday, published names of famous Oregonians who did not vote in May’s primary election, I assume to embarrass and shame them.

This annoys me utterly. What is next? A published list, come election day, of those who voted and those who did not vote? Maybe, when the combed through the records, they could tell us other strange secrets — apparently Lars Larson is a registered Democrat.

Art Alexakis, lead singer of the band Everclear, who has a half dozen hits in the past decade — or perhaps the same hit half a dozen times, and prominent advocate for the Democrat Party in Oregon… did not vote. He was content to … um.. live beside the ocean, Leave the fire behind, Swim out past the breakers, and just go ahead and Watch the world die. Um… Yeah! Now that I armed with the information that Art Alexakis did not vote in this May primary, I will be sure to picket his appearance at an Oregon Bus Project event with a sign pointing to Art Alexakis’s now not-so-secret shame of not voting. Speaking as a youth, or a yute, I ask the time-honored question: If Art Alexakis does not vote in a May primary, why should I vote at all?

Apparently Oregon’s sports stars do not vote. The University of Oregon’s football coach does not vote. The individual Trailblazers players do not vote. Coach MacMillian does not vote. This is understandable. They’re all probably going to be traded shortly, or will bail out on the team when their contracts expire, so why should they care about the direction the state of Oregon heads?

Nay. I object to this Oregonian article. It smacks of a violation against that which we call a “Secret Ballot”, if not technically than just in spirit. Sure, anyone can pursue these records, but why would they want to?

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