Don’t drink and vote
So tomorrow are regional and municipal elections and the city of Lima is dry—no alcohol in the bars, bodegas, casinos this Saturday night. A friend said that the beer cooler at Vivanda, a grocery store, had a lock on it with a sign that read: “don’t drink and vote.”
Many voters have to travel tomorrow to vote, so I guess the formula is don’t drink and drive, need to drive to vote, so don’t drink and vote. Nonetheless, I am amused.
According to the National Office for Electoral Processing (Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electores, ONPE), 480,888 citizens will vote tomorrow for the first time. And if any one of these or the other registered voters does not show, s/he will be fined 17, 34, or 68 Peruvian nuevo soles, depending on the socioeconomic profile of her/his district. Those from districts “not poor” (no pobres) are fined S/. 68; those from districts “not extremely poor” (pobres no extremos) are fined S/. 34; and those from districts of “extreme poverty” (pobres extremos) will be fined S/. 17.
A friend of mine lives in La Victoria, a district with a lot of poverty and crime. But the area where she lives is residential, calm, and not dangerous. The voting site in La Victoria is located in an area where she and her family do not feel safe to travel, so they register to vote in other districts with voting sites situated in locals where they feel safe.
Maybe they have even more reason not to feel safe because if you are qualified to vote in Peru, they cannot detain or incarcerate you during the 24 hours before and the day of the election, unless they find that you have committed a "flagrant" crime—caught red-handed, as it were. I understand where this rule could come from given the depths of corruption this or any country is capable of—but I still think it is funny and could form the basis of a modern day comedy of errors. But any such musings should wait until Monday as tomorrow it is prohibited to put on popular/folk shows in the outdoors as well as enclosed spaces (cinema, theater, etc).
But most importantly, remember not to drink and vote. You wouldn’t want to wake up on Monday morning regretting (or not remembering) which candidate got your vote!
Many voters have to travel tomorrow to vote, so I guess the formula is don’t drink and drive, need to drive to vote, so don’t drink and vote. Nonetheless, I am amused.
According to the National Office for Electoral Processing (Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electores, ONPE), 480,888 citizens will vote tomorrow for the first time. And if any one of these or the other registered voters does not show, s/he will be fined 17, 34, or 68 Peruvian nuevo soles, depending on the socioeconomic profile of her/his district. Those from districts “not poor” (no pobres) are fined S/. 68; those from districts “not extremely poor” (pobres no extremos) are fined S/. 34; and those from districts of “extreme poverty” (pobres extremos) will be fined S/. 17.
A friend of mine lives in La Victoria, a district with a lot of poverty and crime. But the area where she lives is residential, calm, and not dangerous. The voting site in La Victoria is located in an area where she and her family do not feel safe to travel, so they register to vote in other districts with voting sites situated in locals where they feel safe.
Maybe they have even more reason not to feel safe because if you are qualified to vote in Peru, they cannot detain or incarcerate you during the 24 hours before and the day of the election, unless they find that you have committed a "flagrant" crime—caught red-handed, as it were. I understand where this rule could come from given the depths of corruption this or any country is capable of—but I still think it is funny and could form the basis of a modern day comedy of errors. But any such musings should wait until Monday as tomorrow it is prohibited to put on popular/folk shows in the outdoors as well as enclosed spaces (cinema, theater, etc).
But most importantly, remember not to drink and vote. You wouldn’t want to wake up on Monday morning regretting (or not remembering) which candidate got your vote!
posted by Jen Nagle at 11:53 PM
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