Being a Y-mail Helper, I know that the job can be very frustrating sometimes. Answering the same mail three times in a row, having your mail box FILLED with mail all the time. Sometimes you feel like you'll never get through it all.

I mean, we deal. It is a lot of responsibility being a Y-mail Helper. Not only it is tough making sure every mail is answered, but now we need to also go through the Senate platforms, and 911 report the inappropriate ones..

The new system has a policy change since the last Senate race: Y-mail Helpers and City Workers are now the only people who are able to 911 report platforms. This is due to what happened last senate race, when almost ALL the platforms were 911 reported. That interfered with the race's natural flow, and kept a lot of people from getting the votes they may have deserved.

Now that we don't have as many people on the look-out for inappropriate platforms, does this mean we might have a problem? There are a few different ways of looking at the situation. We may find we have more platforms that are inappropriate and can't get 911 reported by the person who saw it. We might also have citizens who CAN 911 report the platforms, but are taking advantage of it.

The latter happened in the current senate race. A Y-mail Helper I know 911-reported a few platforms for what "he/she" said was "using multiple signatures." For example: Snikers00, Snikers03, Snikers04, Snikers05, Snikers06, snikers07, snikers08.... (These accounts don't exist; that list is just an example.)

How do we know that these are the same people, though? Do we know if somebody just happened to vote at the same time on their account as the other people with some what identical names? Sure, it is heck of a coincidence, but it could be true, right?

I have read every platform and haven't found one bad platform that needed 911 reporting. For all you Y-mail Helpers out there, please think before you report. It is way better than getting in trouble for abusing the 911 tool.

Ciao,

~sniX

Editor's Note: Interesting points, snickers00. As it turns out, at least one candidate appears to have admitted to using multiple accounts to sign her platform. According to an article in this week's Times, the candidate says she did this to prove a point, that everyone cheats -- this was just an obvious way of doing it. Do you agree? What's the difference between signing a platform with a dozen accounts that you never use, and signing it with six accounts that you use very regularly?

As you'll read in other articles this week, "stuffing" the ballot box this way goes against the purpose of the Senate Race. How do we know if your ideas have any merit if you can't get votes from OTHER people?

As for the platforms needing to be 911-reported, regular citizens are welcome to Y-mail their Helpers and Senators about any platform they see that truly needs reporting, but please make sure you understand the 911 reporting rules first.