Here I am on my soapbox again.
Here I am on my soapbox again.
I just voted, and I urge you to do the same.
“What?” you say, “The election isn’t until next Tuesday.” Well, this time for the first time, I availed myself of the absentee ballot opportunity.
I used to think if you couldn’t take the time and make the effort to truck on down to your local polling place and cast your vote in a voting booth, you were unpatriotic or at least way too lazy.
As it happens, this year I really will be absent on Nov. 7, and I remembered to send for my absentee ballot just in time. But absentee voting is becoming more appealing than it used to be for other reasons.
One is, it’s sort of like an open-book, take-home exam. If you get to a question – I mean, polling choice – where you haven’t done your homework, you can dig out your sample ballot or go online, research the question and make an informed choice.
Another reason is, unproven electronic voting is creeping into more and more districts, and I don’t trust it. I’ve used computers – old, new, large, small, distributed and stand-alone, Mac and Windows (and DOS) – long enough to know that they are not secure, period.
Susceptible to power surges, power outages, memory overloads and software bugs, before we even start talking about human error and human malfeasance, computers aren’t yet ready to become the backbone of our democracy.
I know, and am awed by, the way thousands of ATMs manage to give us the money we ask for and create an accurate record just about every time. But my vote is even more precious to me, and I don’t think computers are ready to be trusted with it.
So I was very happy to receive my absentee ballot in the mail, get out my old-fashioned black pen, and mark my choices.
There are a lot of really important decisions our our ballot this time around. I’ve already shared my opinion (vote NO) on Measure S: “Such a bad idea.” You may disagree with me, but I hope you’ll vote anyway.
In fact, sometimes I even disagree with myself, at least if one is looking for the consistency of voting the old-fashioned party line.
As a registered Democrat, I received the usual pile of mail telling me how good Democrats should vote in this election, and I wouldn’t go near some of those positions or candidates in a haz-mat suit. It’s part of the joy of thinking for oneself.
So, you don’t have to try to be consistent. You too have my permission to vote capriciously, creatively, thoughtfully, argumentatively, even electronically.
Just please, please, please vote.
