Name:
Saturday, October 28, 2006
I've just returned from a trip to my precinct's polling place.
I have a love/hate relationship with early voting. I am very glad that our state allows it. I love the option. I love it partly because it's so easy for things to pop up in my life on election day that might make it nearly impossible to vote. With early voting, I have my choice of several different days, great hours, and short or nonexistent lines.
On the other hand...I have this recurring daydream every time I vote early. It goes like this: I'm sitting propped up in bed two nights before the final election day, watching the news about who's ahead and who's pulling up in the polls, feeling very smug because my voting is already done. And then, "THIS IS A FOX NEWS ALERT. Just coming across the wire...AP is reporting that Robert L. "Buddy" Evans, Republican candidate for Texas 6th congressional district, has just been arrested on suspicion of murder. Authorities say that Evans may be responsible for as many as eight grisly murders near the Texas-Louisiana border last year. Texas law says that he must remain on the ballot unless he confesses or is convicted, and with just two days left until the election, it still appears that he is a shoo-in to represent his district in Congress."
Since there is at present no way, at least in my state, to "take back" your vote, even if you accidentally voted for a serial killer, my smugness is always tempered as I walk away from the early voting booth. If any of those guys I just voted for are about to be arrested for something awful, please let it wait until the night of the 7th so I won't regret having jumped the gun.
Oooh. Bad metaphor.
I have a love/hate relationship with early voting. I am very glad that our state allows it. I love the option. I love it partly because it's so easy for things to pop up in my life on election day that might make it nearly impossible to vote. With early voting, I have my choice of several different days, great hours, and short or nonexistent lines.
On the other hand...I have this recurring daydream every time I vote early. It goes like this: I'm sitting propped up in bed two nights before the final election day, watching the news about who's ahead and who's pulling up in the polls, feeling very smug because my voting is already done. And then, "THIS IS A FOX NEWS ALERT. Just coming across the wire...AP is reporting that Robert L. "Buddy" Evans, Republican candidate for Texas 6th congressional district, has just been arrested on suspicion of murder. Authorities say that Evans may be responsible for as many as eight grisly murders near the Texas-Louisiana border last year. Texas law says that he must remain on the ballot unless he confesses or is convicted, and with just two days left until the election, it still appears that he is a shoo-in to represent his district in Congress."
Since there is at present no way, at least in my state, to "take back" your vote, even if you accidentally voted for a serial killer, my smugness is always tempered as I walk away from the early voting booth. If any of those guys I just voted for are about to be arrested for something awful, please let it wait until the night of the 7th so I won't regret having jumped the gun.
Oooh. Bad metaphor.
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