Here’s your May 2, 2017 Planet Ann Arbor voter election experience from a baggy old voter’s viewpoint.

Somehow, I managed to remember to throw my driver’s license into one of my raincoat zip pockets at 0-skunk-30 this morning. I don’t *technically* need an ID to vote. I can turn the ballot “application” over and sign an affidavit that I yam who I yam, not to mention that I am acquainted with a couple of the poll workers from back in the days of the Haisley Mafia.

Brrrrr… I was warm during my walk but when I got to the polling place in the back yard (the school), it was 6:56 AM and that meant that I sat on a bench and shivered for four minutes. Sometimes the poll workers invite people into the building before the polls open but I understand when they don’t. Getting set up to do something that you only do a few times a year is tricky and it doesn’t help to have a bunch of vultures staring at you as you work. It was okay. I didn’t freeze.

Missy walked by with Java and said she was gonna go get Bob and come back and vote. And commiserated with me about the crappy weather.

I wasn’t [exactly] trying to be voter #1. I actually figgered that Mr. Mxyzptlk would get there before me like he almost always does. I was prepared to let him be first even if I got there before him. He was not there. At 6:59, another woman approached and, when they opened the doors, she went in first. And then, I got a little competitive. How fast can I fill out the ballot application? Pretty darn fast, as it turned out, and so I was able to skirt behind her and get that coveted status of Voter #1.

That coveted status can also be tricky because when you are #1, sometimes the folks operating the technology are not quite into the swing. My driver’s license did not scan and the person who looked me up the “hard way” [typing in my last name] was definitely not a touch typist. Hunt and peck was slow but he did locate me. I felt a little sorry for him because he seemed a little nervous about the technology at hand. Can you imagine how that might have gone if Mr. Mxyzptlk had been voter #1? (On the other hand, if you are doing hunt and peck…)

I had one circle to fill in today, a school millage, a rather big one, a sinking fund thingy. I do not know if the GG voted or not. I thought about reminding him but since he was walking downtown this morning I knew he would pass the polling place and it would be up to him if he voted or not (he did). I’m pretty sure he canceled my vote out but who knows.

I am always nervous about whether or not the ballot-eater will eat my ballot. I shared that with the poll worker who was stationed at the ballot-eater and she commiserated with me. This is voter #1 and there’s only *one* thing to circle on the ballot, so if the ballot-eater does not eat the ballot, maybe we are in for a troublesome day.

The ballot-eater ate my ballot with no problem and I kind of wanted to high-five that poll worker but I think her fingers were crossed for the rest of the day so I picked up my “I voted” sticker and galumphed over to the woods and home.

Where the heck was Mr. Mxyzptlk? He usually arrives on his bicycle. I hope he’s okay and has merely moved to a different polling place, in town or in South Dakota or wherever. Or maybe he is traveling in Africa or Asia or Florida or somewhere and has already voted absentee.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2017 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.