Just for the sake of argument, supposing you are a prisoner in one of our many state or federal prisons and you have the power to vote for the warden.

The pollsters land a huge contract to find out who is ahead with the prison population and they come around to your cell to ask; "If the election were held tomorrow, which candidate would you be most likely to vote for?" Seems like a fair enough question, doesn't it?

Suppose further that the scuttlebutt around the yard has been that it's really going to be a close election. The incumbent, Jake, is slightly ahead and his opponent, Mike, a finance manager from another prison who is trying hard to catch up.

You really don't like Jake because he has already taken away many of your privileges, transferred a number of other inmates to jobs breaking rocks, food has become more sparse and bland, and you are worried whether you can keep your place in the laundry or library. Life isn't as good as it was four years ago.

Let's be honest now, are you really going to tell these jerks that came around to your cell with their questions that you're going to vote against Jake, the incumbent? After all, they've got your address and the number on your uniform. They came to you. And while they tell you that your response is held in confidence, you've heard that one before. Besides that, they're going to ask you all sorts of demographic questions like how long you've been in the slammer, why you're there, how old you are, and so forth. They want to profile or categorize you.

What happens to you if you tell these guys that you're going to vote for his opponent and then Jake gets re-elected? Will you be put on Jake's list? Will you be considered not part of the team, maybe even a traitor? Will life get even worse?

Why should you bother to tell these pollsters the truth? The real question is whether you can trust the people at the final poll when you eventually cast your vote. Even there, you suspect there's some hanky-panky going on. If you could simply write "Jake" or "Mike" on a slip of paper, fold it and drop it through a slot in a box, you would feel much better.

The closer we get to a police state, the more the above applies to all of us. And let's not forget that it's been four years since the "chad" debacle that took almost two months and the Supreme Court to finally decide the outcome. Four years that the federal government has had to come up with a better, more secure, method of voting. And what have they accomplished?

Wouldn't you feel better if we voted with paper ballots and took a week to count these ballots by hand? After all, look how long they've pestered us with their campaigns and false promises. It's only the candidates and the media, with their "exit polls," that want instant gratification. The rest of us would put honesty over that any day.