I voted today, and got that warm glow that comes from participating in a democracy, no matter how screwed up. The city of San Francisco did me the honor of mailing the four, 11 x 17, double-sided pages of California ballot all the way to Abu Dhabi. It caused a minor stir in the staff room when I unfurled it from the mailing envelope.
Those of you who are Californian--or who have been Californian--can picture the pages and pages of tiny print. Those who aren't Californian may have heard of the epic size of our ballots. The state's initiative system allows pretty much anyone to put pretty much anything on the ballot, as long as they get enough signatures for their wacky proposition or initiative. Which in California just isn't that hard. In places like Illinois, you can go into the little booth and pull a lever. In the Golden State, you get a voting guide the size of a Ph.D. thesis.
I didn't vote for many propositions this year since the voter's dissertation didn't come with the absentee ballot. Obviously, no on the anti-gay and anti-choice ones. Obviously, yes for the San Francisco initiative that proposed to name a sewage plant after George W. Bush (C'mon people! If we're going to have an initiative system, let's support having fun with it.) Mostly, though, I'm glad I got the ballot in time and was able to vote for Obama/Biden. It might not be the best time for the economy or foreign policy or, well, anything. But the system still works well enough to get a ballot across the world and back again.
Needless to say, if I can vote from the Arabian Peninsula, the rest of y'all have no excuse whatsoever. If you're not registered, go do it! If you are, get out and vote. And, if you're a Californian, be thankful that we didn't get all the way to Proposition Z this year...
4 comments:
I've never pulled a lever-- did you do that in college? I fill in little circles. Then it's "scan-tronned" and I always get anxious worried it will bleep back wrong or something. I've always wanted to pull a lever. If you know where I could go to do that, let me know. I'm sure in Illinois, I could pull the lever and fill in the circles!
Well, you know I will be voting... not very much fun voting in a red state. But the weird thing in Texas is voting for judges... I swear there are 5 million judges on the ballot. .. it takes awhile to vote just because of that! Glad that you voted, though!!!
Illinois was actually used to be one of those places with hanging chads - you insert a little pin into poke holes next to a candidate's name. Then it's fed through a computer reader. I don't know if it's changed since the 2000 elections. I hope so.
New York state is a pull-lever state. It's actually more confusing than it should be - you have to go in, make sure the lever is on the correct side. Pull it to the other side. Vote. Then pull it again to the other side.
When I voted absentee while overseas in the 96 election, it was a write-an-X in the box sort of thing.
Voting is indeed an act of great faith.
I just voted, too! Only I didn't get all the extra stuff- just the president vote. You can request that, and I knew I wouldn't be informed enough for all the other stuff...
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