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[jazzfish]

I'd been planning on voting at lunch today, but I looked at a map last night and discovered that my polling place is an elementary school that's just barely south of my regular running route. And since polls open at six and it was actually going to be decent out in the morning, I figured I'd get it taken care of early.

Everyone else was dressed to go to work, overcoats and dresses and suits oh my. I felt just a tad out of place in t-shirt and shorts.

I held my nose and voted for Jim "Reagan's secretary of the navy!" Webb, because George Allen is just plain awful. I shrugged and voted for Jim Moran. Two local bond initiatives got my vote: parks good, police good. The objectively bad marriage amendment did not get "Not just no but HELL NO" because there was no such button, but I voted no anyway. Voted yes on removing the unconstitutional provision from the Virginia state constitution. The only thing that really took any thought was the amendment allowing property tax relief in certain situations; that one got a "no" because, well, tax cuts enshrined in Constitution bad.

Stupid electronic voting machines.

And come tomorrow there will be either rejoicing or sackcloth and ashes.

Comments

[laughin.livejournal.com]

We may disagree on many things, but I think it would be nice for once to vote FOR a candidate - although I like Allen.

I wish Neal Boortz had posted his issues with voting this morning. He may have electronically already voted, but he is not sure.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

My parents and I had a confusing discussion over breakfast about the meaning of the tax relief for construction in conservation/renewal/redevelopment areas. I still don't understand why there should be ANY construction going on in a conservation area. But mom said they have enacted a similar thing in Philadelphia, so they can sell abandoned property to poor people for cheap, help them renovate it, and not charge them hellish property taxes in the first year. Eh, sure.

[jazzfish]

Huh. Okay, that sounds kinda reasonable. The guy next to me speculated that it was another way to sell abandoned property to condo developers and charge them less property tax so that they'd put up more housing that no one can afford.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm sure it can be wielded for both good and evil. :/

[tulip-tree.livejournal.com]

I almost always go to vote in running clothes. :) Seattle has about a bazillion polling places, so I've never lived more than about a quarter mile from mine. It's Seattle, though, so running clothes don't stand out *quite* so much (the everyday, go-to-work attire is a little more varied and casual, usually) but it's also usually raining in November. Fortunately yesterday was the day with the crazy pouring inches-and-inches of rain and today was more normal light showers - I was a bit wet, but I didn't drip all over their papers and stuff. :)

We had a huge ballot this time around... some initiatives and propositions and such that required thought, and then a whole bunch of amendments to the city charter that mostly just required approval. (There were one or two that were meaningful, but at least half a dozen that said things like "we'd like to amend this and that section of the charter to remove obsolete references to these other sections that we took out a long time ago." Yes, let's do that, then.) I understand why they need voter approval, but wow, lotsa little bubbles to fill in! I miss the old-fashioned voting machines in VA with big levers to pull. WA has a few electronic machines, but mostly we fill in scan-tron-like bubbles with black ink. (That feels wrong, too - it's a bubble sheet, one must use pencil, right?)

[nixve.livejournal.com]

oh, good, I wasn't the only one thinking "Pen? What? Where is my No. 2 pencil!" :)

[tulip-tree.livejournal.com]

yeah. I've been here seven years, and it finally seems relatively normal to vote this way... but it took quite a while to get over the lack of no. 2 pencils!

[(Anonymous)]

I was a permanent absentee when I lived in Seattle. This means that now I have the new challenge of answering questions like, "Um, where's my polling place again?" New York isn't nice enough to send you info packets letting you know what you're voting for, either. Grr.

[sometimerose.livejournal.com]

Hrmph. That was me.

[jazzfish]

*laugh* That works. I'm thinking that until I move I probably will be too, and the suits can deal.

I'm really not sure /where/ they all work that they have to get suited up. I suppose my sample is skewed, but most of the people I know are tech types and most of them wear at most business-casual to work.

mostly we fill in scan-tron-like bubbles with black ink

Black ink? Ooh. You are /so/ getting stuck in study hall for all your eighth period activities.

[scathach.livejournal.com]

I almost always go to WORK in running clothes. Ok, not really, because traditionally running clothes don't have back pockets. But you get the idea.

Hooray for MN and the Scan-Tron ballot! Hooray for a paper trail!

[jazzfish]

To you I say :P

(Also to you I say that the Crow book was really good, and thank you. Will be returning it one of these days.)

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

banzai2326 had a short spiel the other day about why he's voting for Webb, and it was good enough for me: http://banzai2326.livejournal.com/186830.html

[jazzfish]

Don't get me wrong; I was ecstatic to see a challenger with a chance go up against the odious George Allen. It's just that I didn't feel like there were a whole lot of reasons to vote /for/ Webb. Pro-choice, yes, excellent; pro-gay isn't going to be relevant in a Dem or gridlocked Senate (those bills aren't going to come to the floor), and I felt like if he was going to win that was what we'd have. And "pro-military" is either meaningless "support the troops" jargon or involves jacking up the defence budget even more, for no reason.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Aaand here's the same guy's piece on military spending (http://banzai2326.livejournal.com/185646.html). :)