Today, the election worker who signed me in said, "I remember you from the cemetery walk. The last time I saw you, you were dead." This was a delightful dead voter joke, and I was glad nobody prevented me from voting, nor carted me back to the cemetery!!
I promise I was alive. And only voted once.
It's red wine, so it is good for my heart, right? Still, I am nervous and scared, troubled by rumors of election-machine tampering, and so on. That kind of thing will ruin us as a country for sure, if it's going on. Again.
My polling station did make a point of saying, "No cell phones." Was this: 1) a courtesy? 2) to prevent interference with electronic voting?* 3) to prevent photos or videos [evidence!] of vote tampering?
I hate to be a cynic (but I am) or a conspiracy theorist (not yet!), but....yeesh!
*I chose a paper ballot. But it still goes into a machine for tallying....
C. tried to take a picture of me in the act of voting and got the slap down from the poll worker. The optimist in me thinks it has more to do with protecting a person's privacy as he/she votes, but the cynic is making a good case over there on the other side.
ReplyDeleteLove your dead voter moment.
Yes, my real first impression was courtesy/privacy.
ReplyDeleteBut where were the donuts? That's what I wanted to know.
Donuts? You normally get fed? Clearly, I live in the wrong place. All I get is a lousy sticker. (Joking...I love the sticker!)
ReplyDeleteI voted early this morning. So if I had some wine in the house I'd be drinking wine by now, too. But the wine buyer isn't home yet. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI love the sticker, too!
ReplyDeleteI think the early-morning election workers bring donuts for each other. I just like the idea of the donuts.
Kim, I would offer to drive some over to you, but...1) it's open 2) that's illegal and unsafe 3) it's gone.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone was prevented from taking pictures, though, as evidenced by this story.
ReplyDeleteI dropped my ballot in a mailbox, and as Naomi Wolf pointed out recently, we are probably all a little bit naive about voting in this country. I have no idea what happened to my ballot, though I'm not actually that worried about it. In this particular part of this state, I think there is little to fear. Still, as she ended her article it should be possible to change the system to 'trust, but verify'.
The nervousness about voting seems to be all over the place today. I haven't caught it exactly, but it does seem to be in the air.
The dead voter bit made me laugh. I had to stand in the cold (it's only in mid-40s here today) for 30 minutes but am not complaining. It's a privilege to vote my conscience.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, wine's out for this mouth full of stitches. As the night wears on, I'm getting more anxious. In all my years of voting, I've never felt that way before. Will keep on hoping and praying.
Wishing you healing and stress relief!
ReplyDeleteI heard on the news today that 700 million people vote in India. The spokesperson said they avoid the issues we have by having an autonomous non-partisan company handle the voting procedures.
ReplyDeleteAnd in Germany people vote on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Ron, did you bring home some wine?
ReplyDeleteYup....a couple of beers and chocolate while watching through my fingers!!!
ReplyDeleteHere in Australia voting is compulsory and always on a weekend to make it easier for working people to vote.
ReplyDeleteI love that idea of weekend voting!
ReplyDeleteYes Kathy I brought home the wine. Later we thought about going out to vote again.
ReplyDeleteWell, this post and the comments were all quite fun, especially the dead voter. Illinois and Texas have some interesting political history of vote fraud, with a dash of corruption. http://www.ask.com/wiki/Jim_Wells_County,_Texas. Hope all is back to Normal.
ReplyDeleteWell, duh. Now I remember what I intended to write. Poll workers told me the "No cell phones" rule is to prevent voters being instructed by text or voice on how to vote. It's just an extension of the rule that prevents me carrying my marked copy of the League of Women Voters Guide into the voting booth.
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