McCOMB - Voting is something a lot of people would rather talk about than do - judging from the low turnout at the polls every election and the rhetoric about it in between.
Currently, since this is an off-year, there's less voting than usual with only a few scattered special elections around the state.
But there's still plenty of talk.
Here in Mississippi there is a current controversy - mild as it may be compared to some we have - over updating voting machines throughout the state in compliance with federal mandates.
Many county officials, including right here in Pike, are questioning Secretary of State Eric Clark's insistence on a certain type of touch-screen device he is pushing statewide.
Clark has a solid reputation for being reliable, and it would be a good thing if all counties had the same type voting machines.
He may be easing some of the angst by stating last week that he has brokered a deal to purchase paper printers for each of the 5,164 touchscreen ballot machines the state plans to buy from an Ohio company, Diebold Election Systems.
Also, Diebold has agreed to release contract details about the voting machines in response to complaints that the company and Clark were keeping the bidding and negotiation process too secret.
Counties have until Aug. 19 to sign on to the Diebold contract or take a cash payment and upgrade or purchase their own voting machines to comply with the Help America Vote Act, a federal voter reform bill passed in the wake of the 2000 national elections.
Yet another voting talking point is the 40-year-old 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Several key provisions of the act expire in 2007, and already the debate is on as to whether they should be extended.
Among these provisions is one that applies to nine states, including Mississippi, and parts of several others, requiring that they receive U.S. Justice Department approval of any changes in voting rules, such as redistricting.
The Constitution doesn't say much about voting, and until the 20th century, regulations were pretty much left up to the states. Then came women's suffrage in 1920 - they could already run for office but couldn't vote - and federal laws guaranteeing the rights of minorities to vote in the 1960s.
These days there are opinions all over the place about voting.
I recently heard two extremes on the subject.
One was from an area public official - who shall go unnamed unless he wants to go public with his view which was expressed in a private conversation.
He thinks that only property owners should be eligible to vote. It's an opinion shared by some property owners who don't like to see their taxes raised by those elected by the masses, but it will never happen, with or without the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The other extreme was from Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois. In a recent television interview, he raised the possibility of extending the right to vote to certain immigrants.
Let's hope that never happens. At the very least, citizenship should be a requirement for voting. But talking about it? Anyone can do that.
As for low voter turnout. I'm not saying it's a good thing, because it isn't. But I've quit worrying about it.
People so ill-informed or disinterested that they have to be coerced to the polls may not need to vote anyway. Some of our elections turn out bad enough as it is.
