Doing my civic duty

[jianantonic]

I just got home from casting my vote.  The polling place is about a mile from my place, so Z and I decided to walk, since we knew it was close.  The only problem was that we didn't know its exact location, so we walked quite a bit more than we needed to, at one point getting within about 100 yards of the place, deciding we were going the wrong way, and turning around to actually go the wrong way for several minutes.  No problem, though.  We got there, we voted, we found our way home.  We each voted for a different candidate in the Democratic primary, which begs the question why go at all.  Well, for one thing, I've never missed an opportunity to vote and I wasn't about to start now.  Secondly, think of it this way.  Let's say one candidate has 3 votes and the other has 4.  3/4=75%.  Now add one vote to each side, and 4/5=80%.  It doesn't change who's leading, but in a system where delegates are handed out by percentages, every vote does count, even if your votes would be offsetting in a general election.  So that's why we bothered.

I always get a really proud feeling from casting a vote.  Even though this country is so fucked up right now, or perhaps because this country is so fucked up, I feel really good about myself knowing I'm doing what I can to set it back on track again.  

I'd be surprised if Obama doesn't win the Democratic side in Virginia and Maryland today, but I think there may be some surprises on the Republican side.  Before any other states held primaries, I thought that Ron Paul was a frontrunner in the Republican race.  I realize now that he's the obscure who? guy on that ticket, but you would never know that if you lived in Charlottesville.  The Libertarians have a huge presence here, and Ron Paul's supporters have been very vocal in this area.  It certainly feels like he has more support than any of the other candidates here.  Maybe that's limited to just the Charlottesville area, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ron Paul picked up a few delegates in Virginia today, and I'd certainly be surprised if anybody but Ron Paul won at our local precincts.  He's even at the top of the ballot here.  The ballots also had all the candidates who've already dropped out of the race, which I thought was unfortunate, because I bet Romney will get a lot of votes today, and probably Edwards, too...but not enough to get any delegates which can then be thrown to a candidate who's actually in it.  But whatever, if you're dumb enough to vote without even paying attention to who's running, then I guess you don't deserve to have your ballot count for anything anyway.

I guess we'll find out later today how it all pans out. 

Peace.

Comments

[stillbigonbnl.livejournal.com]

All I can say about it is that I'm really tired of John McCain calling me.

[photomonk2.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the "why bother?" feeling. It's almost more pronounced in NH with the early primary when there are SO MANY people running, and it's only starting to be clear who has momentum. I think a lot of people vote without knowing a lot about the candidates, despite the dozens of phone calls and pieces of mail (this year was extreme on both counts). In this cycle, I wish I had paid closer attention earlier in the primary race when candidates were coming to town and the crowds weren't very big. It is a bit exciting to actually have a race this time, with real choices.