Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Just vote

Tuesday is general election day.

Don't forget to vote.

I won't be, because I am a L.O.S.E.R. After raving about how much I hate all the bureaucracy that goes into registering to vote, I promised myself I'd do it. Then I put it off, and put it off. Then, finally, I went into the DMV. I waited over an hour to apply for my driver's license, and when I asked for a voter registration form, they informed me that I had missed the 30-day cutoff.

Shoot.

That doesn't mean I can't do endorsements though, for those Alaska voters who were coherent enough to register in the state they live in.

If I could vote for governor, I'd vote for this guy: Andrew Halcro.
Sure, he doesn't have a prayer of actually winning this race. And it's easy for me as a non-voter to say I'd quote/unquote "throw away" my vote on him. But he's a former Republican state representative who got little liberal old me to root for him, so I can't be the only one. Plus, I have this hang-up about wanting to "throw away" votes on the delusional hope that important leadership positions will be filled by people who are smarter than I am. Tony Knowles might be. But Sarah Palin? Eeeeeeee.

If I could vote for Congressperson, I'd vote for Diane Benson. I've only ever lived in states with embarrassing loyalty to out-of-touch career politicians (please, Orrin Hatch anyone?) But Don Young? 17 terms? Please, please, please stop the madness. But speaking of throwing away votes - Geoff tells me he's going to cast one for Juneauite Bill Ratigan, who is running under a party called "Impeach Now." This irks me to no end.

As far as national races, it's almost hard for me to say what I'm rooting for. I'd like to see the Democrats take control of Congress, but at the same time, that would mean hang-ups and squabbling and vetos and little-to-no action from the Legislative/Executive branch for two whole years. Actually, on second thought, that would be wonderful. Go Dems!

But no matter how you feel about the whole thing, you might as well take five minutes Tuesday to show up the L.O.S.E.R.S. like me, the ones glancing wistfully as we pass bustling polling places, and cast a vote. I'll be the one awake until the wee hours of Wednesday morning waiting to see the results (I have to - it's my job), knowing full well that I had no say in them.

Sad.

12 comments:

  1. We've just come off of the worst do-nothing congress in U.S. History. So, why not have some Dems in there? At least we'll get nothing done AND oversight.

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  2. Jill,

    Your time is better spent in the saddle anyway. The probability of your vote changing the outcome, locally but especially nationally, is vanishingly small.

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  3. I voted by mail this year. No standing in line and plenty of time to fill out the ballot. I think the ideal situation is if one party controls the White House and the other Congress. We already have too many laws and spend way too much money on who knows what.

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  4. Juancho doesn't want to rub it in, so I will. Do you realize you could have registered to vote in less time than it took you to write a post telling others how you think they should vote?

    Self-flagellation goes only so far.

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  5. You MIGHT be a (self-proclaimed) L.O.S.E.R. (doubt it). However, you take great pictures!

    I'll vote. I'll ride my bike to get there. My scenery cannot compete with yours, though. I'll leave the camera home.

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  6. I voted today, but only so I can complain later on.

    My high school history teacher always said, "If you don't vote, you can't complain!"

    Who doesn't like to complain? ...So I voted.

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  7. Politics depress me. I'm registered in PA and sent in my absentee ballot last week.

    I was getting really pissed off today while talking to people at work. They are in the military and don't even care to vote.

    What ever happens I hope it's for the better, but some of these super liberals give me the creeps. On the other hand, I haven't been to happy with the current crew.

    So depressed............

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  8. *too
    (I had to fix that before Grammar Grouch Mr. Woody got all up in my Cheerios!)

    As in too many beers to drown my sorrow.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. How can you be politicaly aware but not bother to vote?
    I Don't get it. I can see you're already down on yourself but I'll comment anyway.
    You have the right to participate in a democracy (many of the worlds women don't) and you didn't use it. The world is changing fast maybe next time you won't have the same opportunity (I hope you do). All the best with the next election.

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  11. The beauty of this place is that you dom't have to vote, and you can still complain

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