Get Out the Vote!

Despite my grumblings about the Lima mayoral elections, I believe that civic engagement and participation is an important part of any democratic government. Yes, I actually believe this and no I didn't copy the sentence from my sixth grade social studies book. There are many ways that one can participate in a democracy, but none more fundamental than casting a vote. Unfortunately, many people do not vote thus rendering the democracy less democratic. I am happy to report, however, that the ONPE organization in Lima has undertaken an effort to increase voter turnout. On Saturday while walking with a friend through Barranco, we saw an ONPE parade reminding people to vote on October 3rd. I have also noticed the appearance of the following posters around town announcing that "Peruvians will make very important decisions, come to vote!"



I like this poster for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it lets the public know that no one should feel excluded from voting. Do you wear hearing aids? No problem, come vote! Are you afraid that you might get turned away for using crutches? Don't worry, your kind is welcome too. What about hip little people, can they cast a ballot? Of course they can! Stubby-fingered folks are forbidden though, right? No way, come vote sausage mitts! Women, men, even hockey fans are all encouraged to turn out October 3rd to take part in democracy. I also appreciate that this poster clearly implies who is not allowed to vote, either for legal or common sense reasons. You are out of luck if you are a:

a. child
b. bald person
c. cyclops

In the spirit of civic participation I attended a mayoral debate for the Pachacamac district of Lima. For those who are unfamiliar with Pachacamac, it is a heavily agrarian and relatively poor district in the southernmost part of Lima. Rather than the skyscrapers and expressways of Miraflores you are likely to see sprawling farms and dirt roads. GEA had organized the debate and our fearless leader (Optimus Prime?!) Anna Zucchetti acted as the moderator. I figured that since I can't legally vote I might as well learn about the system. About 20 folks from GEA arrived around 4:30 at the Granjita Feliz or "Happy Little Farm" in Pachacamac to help setup for the debate. This venue is both a working farm and a restaurant which can be rented out for large events. Because most of the preparation had already been taken care of, I took the opportunity to visit with some of the animals of the Granjita Feliz. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Granjita Feliz had more animals than the farms I was accustomed to in the US. In addition to the garden variety pigs, chicken, ducks, llamas, cows, ponies, and rabbits, I visited with an alpaca, two tortoises, a falcon, some peacocks, a very dirty sheep, and some goats. I probably took more pictures than I really needed to, but I always get these bizarre ideas that when animals look at me they have very human thoughts. For instance, this sheep:



might be thinking to herself "You know, I don't care what Bernie says. This new weather stripping is going to save us a bundle off our heating bills come winter." Anyone else ever feel that way? No? No one? Alright, well after taking some unnecessary pictures, Edgar, Fabiola, and I set up a registration table at the entrance to the farm to take down the attendees information. I was impressed to see that approximately 100 people attended, and despite my flippancy about voting diversity earlier in the entry, it was very touching to see the spectrum of people who turned out to hear the candidates speak. Granted, only a small percentage of the population of Pachacamac attended, but all sorts of different people clearly had interest in participating in the matters of their town. Unfortunately, my duties prevented me from hearing the candidates, but during the registration lulls I was able to talk Lima politics with my aforementioned registration team as well as Diego, Franco, and periodically Wallys (doesn't that sound like some bizarre sequel to "Suddenly Susan?"). I have only been following the elections obliquely and was not able to offer any incredibly insightful commentary, but listening to the political discourse of a young and progressive group (typical of GEA) made me feel nearly as engaged as during the 2008 US presidential elections. It's always refreshing to see people passionate about the future of their city, country, or world, and it's not as noticeable in the corporate environment. Then the argument turned to Saturday's game between two Lima soccer teams, Allianza and Universitario, and all hope of any further civic engagement went down the tubes like so much guinea pig gas.

More photos in the Flickr account!