Election Night

The W-hood is in full retreat tonight. George is on his way out of office, Marty is in Colorado, completely cut off from the media so he has no idea who is leading in the race, and I am feeling
under the weather. So despite picking out my finest brown shirt and flag tie I could not bring myself to dress up for
work today. Ordinarily I happily don my voting tie for election day, but I opted for many layers of comfortable clothing to keep me warm today.

My whining aside, America will pick a new leader tonight. Well, we'll try to. I'm not convinced that the Republicans won't come up with a way to rig this one too. You really have to give them
credit. Whatcom county has mail-only ballot ting, which despite it's homonym doesn't mean women have lost the right to vote, nor the ability to run for office. Fill in your own joke here, I'm still sore.

Personally I preferred going to the poling place. Voting that way seemed like more of an event. Occasionally you had to wait in line, but there were usually cookies and you got the "I Voted!"
sticker, which I still covet. There was a formal setting which added to the sense of importance. Judging from trappings you could either be lining up to vote or to be mustered into the military. Either way it was heady stuff when I was eighteen. Definitely a right of passage.


We still have the option of taking our ballots in person to the county auditor. That's the way I go. Partly because I seldom have stamps on hand, but mostly because I want that sticker. You have to give the county auditor some credit. They do put out some effort. They have a number of people standing on the corner outside the courthouse running up to cars collect ballots, saving the drivers the need to park or get out. Of course, that's a leap of faith on the voters part. I'd be afraid to hand over my ballot to a stranger. Plus they stay open late so people like me can go into the office in person and cast our ballots.

The last couple of years I've taken Lucas with me to teach him about civic duty. A couple of years ago we got a dirty look when I had him put both envelopes in the box and then he wanted to do more. I told him he only got to vote twice and it was overheard. Tonight he'll have to share with Jack. This will be his first trip.

Tonight is the beginning of the end for W.'s regime, but it should spell a finish for election
phone calls. They mean well, and I can usually use a reminder but I only need to be told to vote so often. More annoying are pollsters. I can't tell you how many calls I've gotten but they all got a version of the same answer when asking who I will vote for? "It's none of your business." Sometimes I was more polite than others, "I'd rather not say." Usually though it was something along the lines of "We have a secret ballot in this country." From their reactions I have to assume most people answered when asked. For the record I usually vote against any initiative, and never vote for anyone who is unopposed. Plus I always write myself in somewhere, usually against someone who was unopposed.



So it looks like we'll be able to go to bed with guarded optimism. At least in the presidential race, I have no idea what will happen with our governor. But don't sell the Republicans short they may pull this one out yet.

Of course all signs point to an Obama victory, at the stroke of eight o'clock CNN called the election in his favor. I was a little put off by that. Our county auditor (Shirley Forsloff) hadn't even locked the doors to the courhouse yet, let alone tally all the ballots. At least now I know for sure that my vote doesn't count. I think I'll save that lesson for much later for the boys.