Your Worst Nightmare [PHIL-OSOPHY]
Did you see the movie My Worst Nightmare? If you can't remember, that's very understandable. Metacritic was generous to give it 52 percent.
It's about a young girl who was lured into the big city by her elder sister on the pretense of getting her a nice job. Unknown to the young girl, the nice job turned out to be prostitution. It was all a horrible dream when she awoke from a deep sleep.
Do you want to know my worst nightmare? Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would give cities and towns greater leeway in allowing 16-year-olds to vote in municipal elections.
But wait, that's only half of the incubus. The other half is having the option to cast ballots electronically on their smartphones or computers by logging into a portal. A controversial issue among computer security experts, many of whom have criticized it as too difficult to protect from tampering.
Imagine a 16-year-old having the okay to vote in local elections. Well, as of this week, Seattle area voters can use their smartphones or computers to cast ballots electronically. We're talking about 1.2 million registered voters. My question is would you trust the vote? I wouldn't even trust this to vote for The Voice. Supporters say that it will make voting more convenient and boost voter turnout.
Can you see both issues coming before the Massachusetts lawmakers? Now tell me, would it be visionary or nightmarish?
Wake me up when it's over.
Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.