Local Election Official's Handbook Illinois State Board of Elections Elections Il Form

True story.The year is 2014. I am at my good friend's house. His mom is a BJP worker and is in a senior position at the local BJP Mahila Morcha office.We are studying for our final year exams when she comes in with a piece of paper and hands it to me and my other friend.“Altaf, beta, fill this form.”“What is it, aunty?” I catch her son grinning at me.“Membership form beta.”“Uh.. umm.. But aunty, I don’t follow the BJP. In fact, I don’t follow any party at all.” The last part was a lie. I had and still have a political opinion and it is anything but pro-BJP.“So what? You can still fill it up.”Now, I was in an awkward situation. I didn’t want to offend her. She is to me like my own mother. A very sweet lady who always welcomed us into her home and didn’t let us go without having a proper course of lunch or dinner.I reluctantly took the form from her and filled out my name, phone number, and email address. So did the other friend. He, in fact, really didn’t have any political opinion and wanted nothing of it. But he faced the same dilemma as I did and ultimately gave in.Her son did not because he had the freedom to say no to his mother. He would later go on to vote for the AISA in the JNU Students Union elections, the party of Shehla Rashid. He remains a leftist to the core.But anyways, two days later I get a welcome message from none other than Shri Narendra Modi, who at the time was in full campaign mode.I was officially a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party.Over the course of the next few months, I would get spammed with messages about different party events happening near me in which they hoped I would attend. Of course, I ignored each one of them.After the elections, the frequency of messages started to ebb and now it comes once every few months.Yes, yours truly, for all his apparently anti-government stances is secretly a BJP member!So, how did the BJP become the largest political party in the world? By making the membership process ridiculously easy. You could even get in with a missed-call. But how many of those 8.8 crore members are for real, with an ideology that matches that of the party’s, and how many of them are like me is a question that remains unanswered.But one thing is true. Even though the BJP has a strong organizational base, the figure of 8.8 crores is fantastical, to say the least.

Louisiana offers online voter registration. You can register to vote by mail in Louisiana by printing a copy of the National Voter Registration Form, filling it out, and mailing it to your local election office. You can also register to vote in person if you prefer.In-person voter registrationYou can also register to vote in person. The deadline to register to vote in person is Sunday, October 7. Contact your local election office for information on when and where to register to vote.Learn more by visiting the Secretary of State for Louisiana or contacting your local election official.Who can voteTo register in Louisiana you must:be a citizen of the United Statesbe a resident of Louisiana (Residence address must be address where you claim homestead exemption, if any, except for a resident in a nursing home or veteran's home who may select to use the address of the nursing home or veterans' home or the home where he has a homestead exemption. A college student may elect to use his home address or his address while away at school.)be at least 17 years old, and be 18 years old prior to the next election to votenot currently be under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felonynot currently be under a judgment of interdiction for mental incompetenceOnline voter registrationLouisiana offers online voter registration.You should know: you need a Louisiana ID to use Louisiana's online voter registration system. If you don't have a Louisiana-issued ID, you can still register to vote by mail.You can register online until Tuesday, October 16.By-mail voter registrationPrint and fill out the National Voter Registration Form.Box 6 - ID Number: You must provide your LA driver's license number or LA special ID card number, if issued. If not issued, you must provide at least the last 4 digits of your Social Security number (SSN), if issued. The full SSN may be provided on a voluntary basis. If the applicant has neither a LA driver's license, a LA special ID card, or a SSN, the applicant shall attach one of the following items to his application: (a) a copy of a current and valid photo ID; or (b) a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of applicant. Neither the registrar nor the Department of State shall disclose the SSN of a registered voter or circulate the SSNs of registered voters on commercial lists (R.S. 18:104 and 154; 42 U.S.C. Sec. 405).Box 7 - Choice of Party: Louisiana does NOT require that you register with a party to participate in local, state, or congressional primary elections. However, unaffiliated voters cannot participate in presidential primary elections or elections for party committee members.Box 8 - Race or Ethnic Group: You are requested to fill in this box.Review the "Who can vote?" section above and check that you're eligible.Sign the form.Send the completed form to your local election official. To register by mail, the form must be postmarked by Tuesday, October 9.Military and overseas votersActive-duty military, their families, and voters living outside the US can register to vote and request their absentee ballot using the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). To do so:Fill out the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), or download a copy. Your election official may have questions, so please provide an email address or phone number where they can signNow you.Send the application to your election official.It is never too early to submit an FPCA! Please do so as soon as possible. You can look up recommended mailing dates by country and region.When your ballot arrives, read it carefully and follow the instructions to complete it and return it.States begin mailing absentee ballots at least 45 days before Election Day. If you haven't received your ballot by 30 days before Election Day, contact your local election office.If after submitting your FPCA, your ballot does not arrive, contact your election official first. Then:You can still vote using the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB). Print, sign, and mail your FWAB to your local election office.If you mail a FWAB and then receive your regular absentee ballot, you should complete and mail your absentee ballot also. Election officials will ensure that only one ballot is counted.The Federal Voting Assistance Program – FVAP.gov offers additional information on military and overseas voting in Louisiana.Check your voter registration statusYou can look up your voter registration record and verify that your information is correct using Louisiana's voter registration lookup tool.Dates and deadlinesElection day is Tuesday, November 6.The deadline to register online is Tuesday, October 16.The deadline for registering to vote by mail is Tuesday, October 9.The deadline to register to vote in person is Sunday, October 7.Louisiana election contact informationAddress:Secretary of State8585 Archives AveBaton Rouge, LA 70809Phone Number:225-922-0900

Yes, all numbers were arbitrary. The ruling party was assigned a comfortable majority. How big a majority was practically irrelevant, as the “independent” candidates were controlled by the system as well, if not better.I know closely only how it looked in Poland, but the system was imported from Soviet Union.The “elections” in Soviet proxy countries were an important spectacle. It is worth to study how it worked a bit closer, it contains lessons about fuzzy boundary between a legitimate democracy and Soviet-style facade democracy, very valid today as well.The “results” were a simple thing. They were grossly falsified starting at the lowest level.Most (all?) local electoral functionaries had daytime jobs which required communist party nomination. Being a part of this network (party controlled jobs) required ability to read between the lines of otherwise innocent written memos or telephone talks. I do not know if those people had ever any honest open exchange (in person, closed doors?). I bet many never had. It was like a dog and the owner, a dog understands. And humans are way more intelligent than dogs.This is why it proved to be extremely hard to prosecute ex-communists for most transgressions, even if the relevant documents were not destroyed. Someone for example could had been an obvious Soviet plant (there were many shades of communists, “decent local opportunists” and “straight Soviet plants” among the types), but there was no way to prove his/her actions were a result of some Soviet relationship. The “read between the lines” mode of control was ubiquitous across the whole Soviet-controlled system. It was of course reinforced with bone-throwing if the subject read the lines correctly, but it is impossible to prove that a bone received was a result of (unspoken explicitly) command obeyed.So the exchange between a lowest level election official and his/her superior, over the phone, would look like (a true story here, I learned from the person involved, personally):- Hello Comrade, we are past mid-day into voting, how is the turnout?- About 37%, Comrade…- Oh? Well, this does not look very good, Comrade…(two hours later) - Hello Comrade, how is the turnout now?- About 85%, and we still have two hours until closing…- That’s good, Comrade, that’s good…At the end of the day, a local election commission would “count” the votes and dutifully and officially turn in the local official results, on signed sheets, numbers filled with a pencil.There are thousands of those protocols still kept in the archives, historians looked through them. Those protocols were sometimes “rectified” if necessary, but it was more an exception than a rule.It is fascinating that this whole system involved otherwise decent people. I knew some of those election officials. Somehow they participated in that. You know, bills to pay, children to bring up, everybody is doing this anyway, and a single person cannot change anything… And the system tries, here and there, to do good and will be maybe better next year…It is fascinating, in spades, that effectively the whole society participated in that charade. The 98,7% official turnout was of course a fiction, but the real one was over 70%, probably 80+%. Each of us Poles had the opportunity to demonstrate disapproval of the regime by refusing to participate in that farce, after 1956 the system retaliation against the individual would not be fatal, but, on the whole, majority of us actively (going to the polls) participated in it. That 10–30% which did no go to “vote” were more likely recovering from a hangover than making a calculated political statement. Sure, there were ideological opposition die-hards, this is how Poland stopped being communist, but they were far, far from majority.The last sad and sobering historical fact is the story of Polish 1989 elections, where Poles finally could (and did) vote the commies out. There was a massive society mobilization for that election, real campaign, real canvassing, real oversight, you name it.The turnout at that election was 62%. The anti-communist (Solidarity coalition) candidates got 60–80%. Less than 75% across Poland, average.That was touted as “landslide victory against communism”. Yes, those Solidarity candidates swept all available Parliamentary seats, this surprised everybody and started the avalanche of East Block falling apart.But the reality was, that majority of Poles ( 1-.62*.75) either did not care, or actively wanted Poland to stay communist and Soviet controlled. And that was at the time when inflation in Poland was 60% and rapidly rising, and in general the whole communist edifice was falling apart, economy and ideology.You would probably never and nowhere find a more anti-communist and anti-Soviet society than Poland 1989. Damn it, we had a Polish Pope who was, along with the Polish Catholic Church, very clear which side the Church is on. And still, only a minority of the Poles would actually move their a… to vote against the communism and the Soviets.So the lesson is, do not take too much comfort in “that 100% support for communists was a total fake!”. That grossly and dangerously underestimates a real problem that freedom and franchise is actively and sanely pursued only by a minority. Despots are becoming much better today in utilizing that reality. Hence you can have despots with a nearly legitimate electoral support.

Because this is in the “Politics of the United Kingdom” topic, I’m going to assume that you’re in the UK, and whilst other answers have given you roughly the right advice about checking your council, or googling, it can be confusing to know which council ward you are living in.Your easiest solution, to find out Your councillors, Your MP, and Your MEPs, (and maybe your MSPs, AMs, MLAs, - if you live in area with a devolved parliament/assembly) is to use a website such as WriteToThem, you put in your Post Code and it gives you a list, as well as information on how to contact all of them!For example, mine looks like this;

In the words of Tim Cook: "The popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labor costs. I'm not sure what part of China they go to, but the truth is China stopped being the low labor cost country years ago. That is not the reason to come to China from a supply point of view, the reason is because of the skill."Let us look at the concept of labor or the involvement of labor in an every-day product. Let us compare 2 products: a plastic fork vs a plush toy. Although both products fall on opposite spectrums of the consumer life cycle (one disposable whilst the other one is reusable), both are sure to be made in China.A plastic fork is made from food-grade Polystyrene (PS) plastic pellets or beads through a process known as plastic inject molding. In here the pellets are heated in a molding machine to a viscous state and are injected into a mold. The mold produces multiple sets of forks within a matter of seconds and from there on it’s as simple as detaching the forks from a sacrificial (?) holder or tool (this is also made of PS and in most cases is recycled). From here the product is moved into packaging and then sent out of the factory for export. A fully automated machine can be set to run continuously 24 hours a day with very little monitoring by a worker, thus being a low labor product.Now, let us look at that plush toy. The stuffed animal is comprised of textile material for the cover, stuffing, two eyes and a nose. The material must be cut into pieces, sewn together and stuffed. The nose, eyes and mouth are sewn onto the material together and stuffed, requiring skilled labor(-). The cutting of the pieces may be done by hand or by machine, but the pieces are sewn together by a worker using a high-speed sewing machine. Next comes the insertion of stuffing – this is rather complex for a machine to do, as such the insertion is done by hand and the insertion point is also manually closed. It is evident that this requires much labor, therefore, this type of a product is considered a high labor product with labor contributing 70% of the total cost [1]. In the end, much like a fork, the product is moved and packaged for export.Because labor is only one part of the total cost of a product, and in many cases it's as low as 20% of the total cost, – this must indicate that there may be other factors at play in making Chinese products, such as the fork. If labor were the only factor, then most of the “plush toy/labor intensive” industries would have shifted to other countries – but only some industries already have e.g. Bangladesh, Vietnam and Mongolia to name just a few. To that extent, manufacturing of plastic forks could possibly return to the USA; but that’s not happening.Industrial production does not take place in isolation, but rather relies on networks of suppliers, component manufacturers, distributors, government agencies and customers who are all involved in the process of production through competition and cooperation. The ecosystem of doing business in China has evolved quite a lot in the last thirty years. Here are the additional factors, including labor, that affect the overall cost of manufacturing and thus make Chinese exports cheaper:A. Commendable supply chain: Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials, and components into a finished product that is delivered to the end customer. No country, at present, has a supply chain more sophisticated yet flexible than China. China’s biggest advantage is their domestic availability of most of the raw materials required to manufacture a given product [2]. Not only are private entities involved in the process of outputting raw material for manufacturing. Rather, many Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SoEs) actively control and output raw materials for small factories to transform into ready-made goods. If the government is involved in such activities, it is safe to assume that this is an active industry that requires not only oversight and monitoring, but active involvement. Access to affordable raw materials helps bring down manufacturing costs to a considerable extent. As a result, having suppliers who are local to the manufacturer has gained importance as a way to cut costs[6].B. Rebate upon Export: The export tax rebate policy was initiated in 1985 by China as a way to boost the competitiveness of its exports by abolishing double taxation on exported goods[7]. China is one of over 150 countries that utilize a Value Added Tax (VAT) system. It is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material, or service at every state of its manufacture or distribution. The VAT rate is generally 17%, or 13% for some goods. Chinese companies receive a VAT refund from the government for materials of products produced for export. Basically, factories that export do not pay any VAT on goods or raw materials used made for export – further subsidizing raw material costs. American imports to China are charged a VAT, but the U. S. doesn't have a VAT to charge Chinese imports. Moreover, Chinese manufacturers work with far lower profit margins than those in the U.S.C. Efficient Infrastructure and Logistical Access: In its fast-paced effort towards industrialization, China has built many ports (big and small), roads and railroad access. Such a system is not secluded to the big cities (Tier 1 or Tier 2 cities), it connects all of them, including Tier 4 cities or small towns used as industrial manufacturing zones. Having an efficient logistical system allows for cheaper travel costs –the cost of units (kilometers or miles) per currency (dollar or RMB) decreases. Also, an efficient infrastructure reduces overall downtime. Such is the case of India, as pointed out by Vaibhav Mandhana [3]: “Given the poor roads, a shipment from India's north can take a week or more to signNow India's south. Sometimes it is quicker and cheaper to actually get a shipment from Shenzhen than Kolkata. Time is money and all those delays add to your cost. If I could get something in two days, I could sell it immediately rather than wait two months to sell it [add up the interest costs]”"The road freight from LA to Nevada will cost you a lot more than the sea freight from China to LA."[5]D. Subsidized Utilities and Availability: Within China’s industrial areas many fixed and variable production costs are heavily subsidized. For example: electricity and water are subsidized up to 30% compared to normal household or commercial zones. Moreover, the local government gives support with land access at competitive rates, creating jobs in the area. This further helps to diminish the cost of the end product – after all you have access to cheaper land, water and light (What manufacturing does not require these? - Hell, even mining bitcoin does!). In non-industrialized or not fully industrialized countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, India), access to water and electricity remains a critical issue, until today. “In Coimbatore and other industrial places, you get power for like eight hours a day. That means the machinery lies idle for sixteen hours and that wasted capacity adds to the cost.”Do we see a trend of several factors, other than labor, which affect the overall cost of the product? Hold on, there are more!E. Bureaucracy: Barriers for entry in China, in this context, are extremely low. Although you need to fill out a huge number of papers (Customs Declaration Form, Land Annexation, Tax Filing, Compliance Related Documentation, Drawback/Rebate Forms, Annual Returns and etc.), the process is not complex. Relevant departments and accountability are there; you do not need to grease palms to get what you need; streamlined government policies are in place. Again, non-industrialized countries do not have many of these processes in place – they are in the early stages, whereas China has been through all this. I am not saying China is pure and not corrupt, there might be corruption in some cases, but the overall industrial process is so deeply rooted, that people just follow established guidelines. Greasing palms and running around places to get a stamp or a signature causes further delays (time is money) and increases overall costs. This is considered more as “Political Will” than bureaucracy; meaning the government’s will to allow you to do business is prominent thus reducing barriers for you to do business or manufacture or engage in services.F. Technology and Automation/ Skilled Labor: It would be unreasonable to discard China’s interconnectivity between technological advancement and manufacturing capacity. They work hand-in-hand. Availability of the latest technology to manufacture products of a high quality on a large scale. And let's be honest, scalability can be a very important factor in deciding price of a product. Apart from technology, China has a large population, thus having a bigger access to a wide talent pool. Availability to a greater talent pool decreases the overall demand as there is an oversupply – again, denting the costs of the product. If you recall, Tim Cook's main reason for manufacturing in China is: the depth of highly skilled labor in the manufacturing space. To rephrase what Cook said: "No other country in the world besides China has the combination of an electronic component supply chain and large pools of skilled labor needed to make iPhones on the scale which Apple needs."G. Labor: It is comparatively cheaper to many so-called “developed countries”. You can have someone do the same labor task for a comparatively lower price than say Europe or the USA for that matter. This further brings down costs. As noted before, it is not the cheapest – but it is not the most expensive either. What is important to remember here is that labor in China, is skilled – although most laborers are not trained, but have learned by doing. When you outsource to China, you’re working with time-tested factories that have been producing quality products in similar industries as yours for years on end, and in massive supply.Where a labor task might cost you $8-9 USD/hour in developed countries, it will cost you $450-500 USD for an entire month in China (8 hours a day, 28 days a month). If you do the math, that’s about $2.19 USD/hour. Countries like Indonesia a semi-skilled laborer will do it for half, $1.05 USD/hour – but the manufacturing process will be influenced by factors all the factors mentioned.H. Local Government: Local government officials are appointed, not elected. Part of their job is to help the industries and they are measured by results. Furthermore, locals compete with each other. That means Suzhou is competing with Chengdu to attract industries, and so on. Hence officials are always using their local advantages to help, attract, and grow industries, such as providing low cast land, building industrial parks, and making sure that the support infrastructure (roads, electricity, water, etc.) even local housing and schools are there. Since these officials are not elected locally, their actions are much more efficient rather than dealing a motion to go through town hall meetings or waiting for a ballot to pass for months. The downside of such efficiency could be that some environmental studies were not complete or many local concerns are not addressed fully (All credit for how to local governments operate within China go to Mr. James Yeh ).Here are few controversial factors, claimed by several sources:I. Currency: There is the ever-present theory of currency manipulation among economists, where China undervalues their currency by an estimated 30%-40%, which simply makes every product that China ships out 30-40% cheaper than those of a potential American competitor. The Yuan is manipulated and pegged undervalued to the US dollar [2]. So the price quoted in US dollars( more exports are quoted in dollars), will be cheaper than normal; (This manipulation has affected the domestic price of the product and labor wages as it has been kept much lower than it should have been. The Chinese yuan has, however, been steadily increasing in value against the dollar over the past few years.J. Compliance: The Chinese government does not bind itself with Intellectual Property issues. They allow the industry to investigate the products developed successfully elsewhere in the world. They then produce them in large quantities. Personally, there is nothing wrong in this benchmarking. Most industries do benchmark; especially in the automotive world. This saved the industry from expensive investments in R&D [4]. Although China has its own environmental protection agency, the environmental protection laws are generally lax and not enforced fully, especially at the local level. In previous years, Chinese factories cut down on waste management costs -further bringing down overall product costs. Things have been different lately, thanks to the strong efforts from the national government. Laws on IP and environmental protection are being enforced, especially after the Hangzhou G20 summit. There is still some belief that more needs to be done.If cheap labor was in itself the key driving factor, a large percentage of the labor-intensive factories would have already shifted to cheaper labor countries and lower labor-intensive jobs would have returned to the countries such as the USA - because China is not the synonym for cheap labor anymore. But that's not what we are experiencing; only certain jobs within the manufacturing field are moving to South East Asia. A huge chunk is there and is still able to reap the benefits of various factors. It will take more than a cutthroat desire for emerging economies to set up a business ecosystem that can compete with China's.1. https://www.industryweek.com/env...2. https://qr.ae/TUtz1K3. https://qr.ae/TUtzTO4. https://labs.ebanx.com/en/market...5. Walter Hay's answer to How expensive is it to import to Nevada from China?6. 5 Reasons Why You Should Manufacture In China With ITI[7] China Will Continue To Dominate World ProductionThanks for your upvotes! If you would be kind enough to give a like for this same article on my LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/w...