VOTE(D)
I voted this morning. It was pretty painless*, and I got a sticker that read "I Voted"! How exciting.
One strange thing happened. My significant other was voting in the booth next to mine, almost ready to finalize the choices when the machine reset. It returned to the start-up screen, which details how to operate the voting machine. An election official (who was a mere two yards away) was immediately informed , who tried to solve the problem with genuine resolve. He admitted that they had been having trouble with that machine earlier, when they first opened shop. The official called the main office, and the guy that answered was not very helpful.
"He hung up on me!" our local official cried. Dialing again, the same person spoke with him for a while, and then asked to speak to my significant other.
"There is no way that voting machine could have shut off." was all he said. The local officials were not helped in any way by the man upstairs. In fact, they only got denials of reality and snide commands.
It was up to the local election officials to allow this disenfranchised voter another opportunity to vote. They eventually succeeded, 15 minutes later, and my significant other emerged with a happy sticker just like mine: "I Voted".
* It took me a total of 2 hours to gather research materials, review them, select candidates, and then vote for them. That's it. 2 hours out of 35040 hours (4 years). How many people throughout history have hoped, wished, and dreamed of a day when everybody can participate in government? What is 2 hours out of 4 years? Such a noble desire, doesn't take but 2 hours, and yet millions of Americans did not go out and vote. Our ancient idealists must be spinning in their graves.
One strange thing happened. My significant other was voting in the booth next to mine, almost ready to finalize the choices when the machine reset. It returned to the start-up screen, which details how to operate the voting machine. An election official (who was a mere two yards away) was immediately informed , who tried to solve the problem with genuine resolve. He admitted that they had been having trouble with that machine earlier, when they first opened shop. The official called the main office, and the guy that answered was not very helpful.
"He hung up on me!" our local official cried. Dialing again, the same person spoke with him for a while, and then asked to speak to my significant other.
"There is no way that voting machine could have shut off." was all he said. The local officials were not helped in any way by the man upstairs. In fact, they only got denials of reality and snide commands.
It was up to the local election officials to allow this disenfranchised voter another opportunity to vote. They eventually succeeded, 15 minutes later, and my significant other emerged with a happy sticker just like mine: "I Voted".
* It took me a total of 2 hours to gather research materials, review them, select candidates, and then vote for them. That's it. 2 hours out of 35040 hours (4 years). How many people throughout history have hoped, wished, and dreamed of a day when everybody can participate in government? What is 2 hours out of 4 years? Such a noble desire, doesn't take but 2 hours, and yet millions of Americans did not go out and vote. Our ancient idealists must be spinning in their graves.
posted by Mookie at 4:09 PM
2 Comments:
The League of Woman Voters and a liberal rag I pick up during election season is enough information for me. That, and voting party line.
The saddest part is that your vote counts just as much as mine.
[ie. nill.]
This election I probably spent a little more time on research than he first time I voted (there were a lot of propositions and local issues). I sat in front of the computer with a green party voting guide (for non-partisan issues, I didn't vote for that many greens) and looked up the candidate information online. It took probably 3-4 hours, but I finally had a list to vote with the next day and also gave it to my fiancee. She's unfortunately politically apathetic (opposites attract?), but she votes my way to keep me off her back ;)
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