Election Day Impressions

I VOTED. You know I did because I have the sticker that says I did. Er, wait, our 2 yr old has that. Sticker obsession and all.

It's now late enough that some of the races have been called, but I won't get into how many of my choices are losing. (That's standard, and an entirely other post!) I will say there was a small article about my husband and I in the Sunday paper. Apparently, as a Democrat and a Republican, our "divided" household mirrors the exact divide of our precinct. While neither of us ever votes straight ticket, and our conversations are (mostly) civil, the paper gives a slightly different impression of our (ahem) balanced approach.

Goats, donkeys, tomato, tomahto...

Our "divided" household has discussed candidates, articles, amendments and ads. We've hung up on political callers in equal amounts. We've debated attack ads and claims and now ignore them in equal amounts. We still have to stop and think when we read the TWO PAGE ballot. Even with sample ballots and local paper endorsements, there's always one or two items that skip by us. Why, honestly, are we voting for the Mosquito Control Board?

Don't be fooled. He's really an independent!

But my main impression for the actual voting process today was this: anxiety. Because we had paper ballots that had to have circles filled in completely in BLACK ink. They provided the ink. And the shaky "booths" that are made of light alumumnim and feel like they'll tip over and crash the whole row if you lean too hard. But here's the thing, folks. I was in sixth grade when the stupid scan trons made their appearance, and my math test doubled the grading time needed because the ovals weren't filled in right. I know, I know, right? I've taken a gazillion tests since then, and not ALL of them get returned, and the machine recorded and beeped my vote, and paper ballots are so much more preferable to hanging chads and touch screen voting with no paper record at all... but still. Scan-tron?