Voter #2
As I approached my polling place, our own Haisley Elementary School, home of the Haisley Huskies Goat Things, I thought that I might actually have a ghost of a chance of being the first voter. It is a local election and we have low turnouts for those. As I was walking in the door, my iPhone proclaimed that it was 6:59 AM and, as I reached for a voting application, a poll worker proclaimed, “7:00! The polls are open!” Alas, there was one guy ahead of me. He looked like he was dressed for a cycling commute. I was dressed like a baggy old and rather bedraggled skunk-walker but the poll workers were impressed that I had my driver’s license at the ready. Hey, I am a rule follower, assuming the rules are reasonable and I know what they are. They were a little discombobulated and the ballot-eater had to be reset or something before it would eat ballots. I understood. These folks are [mostly] volunteers and this is not an 8-5 everyday job. There’s a bit of a re-learning curve every time they set up shop. New volunteers, etc.
I don’t know if you voted or not or even if your state or locality had an election this fall. If there was an election and you didn’t vote, I’m not going to try to lay a guilt trip on you. My own voting history is a bit spotty. I can wrap my brain around a lot of things in an analytical way. Mathematics, music, computer programming, and I fergit what else. Politics? I dunno. I have my own little hot-button issues but I can’t always figger out how to take political stories and translate them into how they will affect our country or my state or municipality or meeeee. I don’t really have the chops for that. So, for many years I voted kind of randomly. After an embarrassing experience at the polls, I actually quit for a couple years.
I finally got myself going again and these days, I have been trying to actually understand who / what I am voting for. I have been subscribing to all kinds of news and politico blogs and tweets to my feeds. I have been trying to read and understand all of this stuff and make my *own* decisions about how I want to vote. I don’t know it all and I don’t think I ever will. But I am trying.
I am keeping my eye on the state and national elections that will be happening next year but I am focusing on local elections for now. Again, I don’t know it all but today I actually had an idea about who / what I was voting for. In fact, I knew enough that I flip-flopped about two of the little ovals I had to fill in right up until I was in the voting booth. I may talk about that tomorrow or I may not. If I run into a unicorn (or a skunk) on my skunk-walk, you’ll probably hear about that instead.
Good night. I hope you voted and that the candidates you voted for win.
P.S. Our own beloved Haisley Elementary School used have a hawk as its mascot. The Haisley Hawks. A former dictator principal thought that hawks evoked a predatory image. At some point, a school-wide election changed the mascot to the Haisley Huskies. Mouse (a former Haisley student) saw this photo on facebook today and she thought the “huskie” was a goat. That totally cracked me up. However, I don’t see anything wrong with having a hawk as a mascot. Raptors are just as honorable a bird as any.
November 8th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
We vote by mail and so I voted a week or two ago. There were 3 school board positions on the ballot and I was passionate about those. After last year’s fiasco I want change!!
November 9th, 2011 at 9:58 am
following his logic, the former principal would also object to the bald eagle as the national bird/symbol?
November 9th, 2011 at 10:36 am
Interesting point and I don’t know. More later, maybe 🙂