On my way home from work on Tuesday, I stopped by my polling place to vote. I was number 200 for the day. There are 730-ish people in my voting district, so that's not a super turnout, but then again it was an off election year.
Although there was an important office up for grabs - Town Supervisor. For reasons related to the recent flooding and also some other issues, hello NEPOTISM, a lot of people (me included) really wanted to see the current supervisor booted out. So I made sure to stop and vote.
And yes, yes indeed, I am one of the sanctimonious jerks who stroll out of the polling place all, "I voted! I am a good citizen! Go me!" Yeah. Somebody give me a cookie.
I USED to be one of those annoying assholes who'd bug everybody to go vote on Election Day. But I don't do that anymore. For one thing, a lot of people are really alarmingly uninformed on the issues. I was talking to my boss, who lives in the same town I do, on Tuesday, and he wasn't even sure who was running. Then when I started listing the candidates and their platforms, he stopped me at "Shaeffer" and said, "Oh yeah! I think I voted for him!" So. My boss had ALREADY gone to the polls and voted, yet he wasn't sure who was running and he couldn't recall who he had actually voted for.
And then I was talking to a co-worker, who ALSO lives in my town. He asked where my polling place was, and when I told him, he said, "Okay, so that's where I go to vote, right?" I told him it depended on what voting district he lived in, and he was flummoxed. No idea. Sheesh.
Look, it's okay to be uninformed. Just stay home on Election night, okay? Leave it to the people who care. Don't just go blindly filling in little circles, because you could do some inadvertent damage.
Oh! And while I'm on a little rant, here, it's OKAY to cast a vote for some things and leave other things blank. For example, you can cast a vote for mayor and for alderman, but if you're really not sure who the best candidate for treasurer would be, just LEAVE IT BLANK. It's okay!
Ahhh. Rant over. I feel better now.
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4 comments:
I'm Canadian, but we had a provincial election in October, and you don't even want to know how sick everyone I know was of hearing that I voted even though Elections Ontario screwed my enumeration card up royally and I had to drive to three different schools WHILE I HAD THE STOMACH FLU. I won at being civically minded that day.
p.s. Also probably at spreading the stomach flu all over the city, but hey - what can you do?
Ha, it's Bibliomama with stomach flu and voting, FTW.
Thanks for stopping by!
Oh yes, I totally used to think I had to vote for EVERYTHING and I was all, "but i can't make an informed decision about judges! I know nothing!" and stress out over voting and maybe just not vote. so now I vote on the issues and the people I care about and leave the rest blank.
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