Tuesday, November 04, 2008

May you have a boring Election Day

(Logistically-speaking, of course--here's hoping nothing like this stuff happens to you.)

My experience: Left here a little after 7:00 a.am.; walked to the polling place, about ten minutes there; from arrival at the polling place to leaving, another ten minutes (it was busy, but at that time there were plenty of machines and, for those who preferred them, paper ballots); then the walk back. At least for me, this was a no-drama election.*

Before leaving, I checked the paper record of my machine-generated ballot. No vote-flipping. Cool. Take that, Battleground States!

To answer Thomas Franks' question: Today at least, there's nothing the matter with Kansas.

Happy Election Day, all.

*I forgot to mention that I heard on the news this morning that about half of all registered voters in the state have already voted because of early voting--that may be why the line was short today.

4 comments:

Russell Arben Fox said...

Well, I just got back. The wind is picking up, and some clouds are moving in, but it's still a very pleasant mid-autumn day here in Wichita. No waits at the polling station; I signed in, and was given a choice of the touch-screen contraption or a paper ballot. I chose paper, of course, neo-Luddite that I am. Voted for the bond issue to support our public schools, followed the advice of a judge in our congregation in regards to voting for various candidates running for court offices, then voted pretty much a straight Democratic ticket on the big issues. So that's it; one more vote for Obama. I'm conflicted about my motivations for doing so, but fundamentally, I'm happy about my choice. It was a good day to vote.

John B. said...

Thanks for stopping by, Russell, and for pointing us in your direction.

I understand the conflicts; I'd be lying if I said I don't feel them myself--and I'd be afraid for myself if I ran around claiming I felt no qualms.

But you know, I spent part of the morning watching a couple of Obama speeches from the primaries, and in the one from the night he won Iowa he specifically addressed the much-maligned theme of "hope." Hope is not blind optimism, he said, and he's right (any Lord of the Rings fan knows that). Hope isn't a passive thing, either; if/when Obama is elected, that's when the real work begins. That thing we hope for has to be earned, and collectively at that. But I also think that those of us with honest, even passionate disagreements with Obama on matters of policy will get fair hearings from him. I get the feeling that the outcomes aren't pre-determined where he's concerned, the way so many crucial decisions seemed to have been with the Bush administration. That willingness to listen, really listen, is crucial for me.

Anonymous said...

Hey John B. - Happy Election Day! I was in line for an hour and fifty minutes, all of them interesting. There was quite a bit of excitement in the air.

Carmen said...

I work at a public school, so dropping off my absentee ballot in the big red box was no problem. The only bummer (and a minor one) was that I didn't get a sticker.