Election Day Just Ain't Quite the Same When You Vote By Mail

Voted tonight. Felt pretty good. The choices were all easy.

It was difficult to keep myself from using "Cap'n Jack Sparrow" as a write-in candidate to every uncontested county race. Luckily I was able to keep my head.

It is strange, though, voting from home in the comfort of your den. I'd imagine it makes drunken voting quite a bit more likely, for starters. I miss the ritual of going to the local elementary school in the dark after work, pouring down rain most years - practically a monsoon today - and standing in line with a bunch of strangers, shuffling forward to meet the elderly keepers of the vote, who were clearly born into the role. Ah, a little place I liked to call America. You can almost feel it, can't you?

Still can't bring myself to mail it. I'm going to drop it off at the Auditor's office tomorrow. Somehow it doesn't seem right to be delivering votes directly to the Auditor. In different times they only got called in to investigate mistakes after the fact. Different time. I guess.

¶ Monday, November 06, 2006