My Nice New Voting Pencil

I voted for the first time by absentee ballot a few weeks ago.  I’d been following the campaign all summer with the help of our kitchen radio always tuned to 760 WJR, where Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity would comment on the daily campaign developments. I’ve known who I was going to vote for for a long time, and was pretty enthusiastic about getting my say in a major election.

When I opened up my absentee ballot, I found not only the ballot itself (which reminded me entirely too much of an ACT test sheet), but also a tiny red pencil, supposedly for use in filling out all those little ovals. At first, I was very disappointed that I didn’t get an “I voted!” sticker. Don’t make fun of me, it was my first time. I wanted the sticker, ok? Then I decided I could settle for the pencil. It was cool, I could use it to vote, and then keep it as my First Time Voting Memento.

 Like every self-respecting perfectionist out there, I read all of the instructions carefully. They told me very succinctly that under no circumstances was I to mark the ovals with anything other than black or blue ink… So what about that pencil?  Do the ballots get thrown out if they are marked with pencil rather than ink? That makes me wonder if the pencils were sent in the ballots of only one particular party. And how about all the taxpayers dollar wasted on useless “voting” pencils that end up in the trash—excluding those collected by abnormal eighteen-year-olds who get excited about voting.

So that was my voting experience, and now I just really want to encourage you all to vote. When it comes down to it, I really don’t care who you vote for as long as you vote. I can strongly suggest a candidate, but I can’t make you vote for them, and the most important thing is that you vote. Voting, let me remind you, is not only your right, it is your responsibility. If you’re unhappy with the government and economy today, vote. If you’re happy with the government and economy today, vote. Whatever you do, vote. And if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about our government’s decisions or our economic situation.

 End of lecture.

~ by amazingracie on November 1, 2008.