As much as I fantasized about writing a whip-smart essay on the ballot measures and candidates and how you should vote and why, that just didn’t happen, for several reasons, but the primary one being that I’ve hardly read the paper--or anything--since my son was born. I’ve literally had my head buried in the sand. But, I DID VOTE, after “cramming” the last few days. Yesterday, I dug the voter guide out of a ridiculously high stack of catalogs and magazines, which have also gone unread. Today, I read the local paper, but really only the Endorsement Roundup on the op-ed page. I had a brief discussion of the issues with my husband, who is very much more political than I, having worked for the Clinton administration, but who also is struggling to be on top of things this year.
Having a kid has just turned our lives upside down. That being said we went to the polls after burgers and mac-n-cheese at Mojo Burger . We thought we’d tag team Ry and this would be easy. Not so. We arrived at 7 pm and STOOD IN LINE FOR AN HOUR. Not because of the crowds of people rushing to get their last minute vote in, but because the voting machines were out of order. Although five machines were set up, only three were working and by the time we got to the front of the line, only two were working! It was sheer torture waiting our turn with a 15-month-old ready for bed. Meanwhile, we stared at the precinct across the room, zipping through their line with their five WORKING machines.
Although I found the actual act of electronic voting to be easy, intuitive, and efficient, paper ballots don’t crash and don’t require the “expert” in the room to get them up and running again. I can’t believe they didn’t even offer the choice—or back-up—of paper ballots. Before this evening, I had these grandiose notions that we’d create this voting tradition with our son going to the polls and hopefully he’d look forward to the day that he too would be able participate. Unfortunately I think that I’ll be voting absentee from now on, unless they come up with secure servers so we can vote from home online.
2 comments:
Two quick thoughts:
1 - Good idea to go and vote together! I took Jeep by myself today and it was as bad as you can imagine including him throwing my car keys at fellow voters and screaming shrill screams every few seconds. Sigh. I checked off four or five important votes (from my very, very brief research) and ran for the door.
2 - Mojo burger sounds delicious! I wish I could join you.
I always took the kidlets to the polls with me. They thought it was very exciting, and the workers always lavished them with those "I Voted" stickers. I figured I was creating a positive association with the whole election process. Next election, try going during the middle of the day. The polls are always deserted.
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