This is something very new and strange to me. It's election day. I voted. But I never had to leave home to do it. I have to admit, I actually LIKE the physical GOING to the Poll. I like voting in a booth, surrounded by others voting. I even volunteered as a poll watcher last year, back in the contentious TX CD22, to make sure there was no funny business (there wasn't at my polling place on election day, but there WAS in my early voting assignment). Voting at your local polling place is a community thing, democracy in action.
This year, I'm living in rural WA. Washington and Oregon have evolved to Mail In Ballots. A few weeks back, we got a Voter's Guide. Imagine that! (Hey Susan, when was the last time you saw a Voter's Guide with the issues to be voted on, an explanation of what it is, followed by Pros and Cons)
So what does one do with this information? After the guide arrives, your ballot arrives in your mailbox. You take your black pen, and fill in the little bubbles yes or no, and fill in the bubbles beside the names running for office. This year they were all non partisan offices, and all unopposed (at least one thing was familiar to me). Looking forward to NEXT year's ballot to see how things shake out when there are partisan positions to fill.
Anyway, you fill in your bubbles, sign the ballot, put it in envelope 1. Sign envelope 1 and seal it into envelope 2. You now can choose to put a stamp on it and have the mail truck pick it up from your box at the end of the driveway, or you can drop in off in the voting box at the Post Office. You're done! Sounds like a good thing, right, and that EVERYONE would vote...
Not so fast, buddy. Estimates are that at most 50% of people will have voted in Oregon, where there are two very contentious measures to vote on. I'll bet WA is a lot less. That 50% might sound good to y'all dealing with abysmal turnouts in your off year elections but it's rather pathetic to think that HALF of the people didn't bother to do what people in other countries would kill to be able to do. Or die trying for that right.
Come on people. All of you of CST, you've got an hour. Get out there! There's still time on the west coast to vote. You just have to drive down to the collection box by 8 pm. You're too late for the mail truck.
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3 comments:
Hey Fran, with the way we fight in Texas, a Voter's Guide would be covered in blood.
And I know you've got the battle scars to prove it! I'll bet half the people don't read it anyway (the half that doesn't vote). But it has a better than even chance of ending up in a recycle bin than the dump! In Texas it would have to go into hazardous waste collection! Miss you, girlfriend.
Fran. How do you like it in the Progressive North West? Buundle up Honey the Chinook Winds will be blowing soon.
The first thing I asked for when I moved to Texas was, When does the Voter's pamplete arrive? I got the strangest looks. I think that they thought I was beamed down from the space ship!
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