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October 7, 2004Voter sign-ups tainted by Noodlegate scandalAdam Tyler's in the game. And it didn't even take a promise of clean underwear to do it. The 19-year-old Traverse City resident was one of thousands of people across the state who registered to vote for the first time before Monday's deadline. County clerks in northern Michigan said they were inundated by people seeking to register as the Monday deadline approached. Statewide, some 7.1 million people - 96 percent of those eligible - had registered before the Monday deadline, and that number is expected to rise when the final count is announced in about two weeks. By comparison, 6.9 million were registered to vote in 2000, the last presidential election year. Of those, 4.3 million - 62 percent - actually cast ballots. Like a lot of those first-timers, Tyler said he wants to be part of the process, not just a spectator. "A lot of people will sit back and complain about the decisions that are made, and then you ask them if they vote and they say 'No,'¡" Tyler said. "I want to do something to help make a difference." We'll know what difference, if any, the new voters made on Nov. 2. Just getting more people to register is a good first step, though. Unless Ramen noodles or clean underwear are involved. In one of the most unintendedly comic moments (comic as in "Dumb and Dumber") of the campaign season, state Republicans on Tuesday asked prosecutors in four counties (including Antrim) to charge that damned Michael Moore. His crime? Offering gag - at least everyone else thought they were gag - gifts to those who attend his 60-city "Slackers" tour and promise to vote. Oh, that anarchist! As part of his register-and-vote shtick, Moore, the rabidly anti-Bush creator of the blistering "Fahrenheit 9/11," invites people up on stage and offers them prizes like clean underwear, a clean dorm room (an obvious falsehood), a year's supply of Tostitos and a package of Ramen noodles if they'll register and vote. Noodlegate. With an apparent straight face (and loss of contact with reality) the state GOP said it wants Moore brought to justice. "We want everyone to participate in this year's election, but not because they were bribed or coerced by the likes of Michael Moore," an overheated Greg McNeilly, executive director of the state Republican Party, sniffed. He's right. Moore should be charged, tried and found guilty. If the range of punishments doesn't include something sadistic like watching endless re-runs of the Cheney/Edwards debate, he should at least be forced to actually clean those dorm rooms himself.
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