participatory democracy, or OH GOD WHERE ARE MY PANTS

[rone]

By the time Kim and i went there, they were out of paper ballots.  The helpful, older ladies seemed perplexed by my Luddite resistance to the touchscreen.  I selected all NOs and swore to myself, "Next time, absentee ballot, dummy!"

Comments

[merovingian.livejournal.com]

Tell me about your resistance to the touchscreen?

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

Are you testing whether I'm a replicant or a lesbian?

[merovingian.livejournal.com]

Let me tell you about my mother!

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

I'm usually pretty lucky, the polling place I go to is stocked with fabulous peoples...

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Hmph. When I went to get my ballot, the lady said "Sign here" while pointing at two different spots on the page, and seemed annoyed when I picked the wrong one.

HMPH, I say.

[twillis.livejournal.com]

You should have just signed it again, and again, and again and not stopped, ever. That would have been totally cool.

[sandollar17.livejournal.com]

I excused myself to some lady as I reached to grab a paper from under her elbow --- she was leaning on everything on the table as she filled out some paper. I didn't expect her to so stubbornly refuse to move so I just reached and pulled. Oops. She snapped at me, looked completely exasperated, slooooowly lifted her elbow, and glared at me out of the corner of her eyes.

Yay for voting.

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Absentee is great. We received our ballots on Friday, which is a little late to feel comfortable about entrusting them to the US Postal Service for a Tuesday 8pm delivery, so we walked them to the polling place. No line for us, yay! Just pop in, wave at the harried workers, drop the envelopes into the box, collect stickers, and go.

Usually, we get our ballots about two weeks prior to the election; then it's even easier.

[nyar.livejournal.com]

Don't delay! Become a Permanent Absentee (http://www.scvmed.org/content/0,4745,sid%253D12973%2526chid%253D16770%2526ccid%253D227801,00.html) voter today!

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

At least you got to vote! I had to cast a provisional ballot (http://www.livejournal.com/users/pen_shui/64316.html#cutid1), and have the feeling it's not going to count.

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

This creepy old dude with a Russian accent came over while I was feeding my ballots into the ballot eater. Under the pretext of helping me, he started reading my ballot to see how I'd cast my votes.

As it happens, the polling place was the MRI lab lobby at the hospital where I work, so I was wearing my White Coat of Ultimate Authority. So I really let him have it:

"Sir, are you actually reading my ballot, as it appears, or does it just LOOK like you're reading my ballot?"

He squinted up at me, abashed. I raised my voice and continued, "..Because it MATTERS. The latter is just rude; the former is a FELONY."

A lady came over to me and started to tell me there was no need to be rude. I wheeled on her, told her that American blood was spilled to gain the right to secret ballot and that she needed to consider her history, then walked off.

What the fuck happened to my America, man? I'm starting to get pissed off.

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

Your America is slowly being put to death whilst thinking that polls saying the President's approval ratings are at an all-time low mean that people think that they're participating in some silent revolution.

Next time, take a name, report to the County Clerk.

Sorry, I'm having a Bad Country Night, and the level of blood in my alcohol is too high.

Time to go fix that, then edit some manga for DrMaster (http://www.drmasterbooks.com)...

[dpk.livejournal.com]

I'm totally against the touchscreen machines, too. I suspect it's for similar reasons. (Diebold, the company that can barely read my ATM card, is to be trusted with voting?!)

Of course, absentee ballots are not perfect either. Our absentee ballots are sorted by a company called "Postal Services of Washington, Inc", a company that periodically employs felons, instead of by .. let's say, the US Post Office (novel concept!).

King County is big on the Diebold machines, too. We're all sorts of screwed up here.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Hey, what's wrong with felons? They've paid their debt to society, let the guys work! Sheesh.

The USPS is privately owned now, isn't it?

[dpk.livejournal.com]

Felons are great people. Who isn't a felon? I just don't think they should be involved in the basically unaudited business of sorting ballots. Especially when they were convicted of crimes like embezzling.