Voting Against The Storm
Oct. 27th, 2012 07:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gonzaiHome for the evening and more or less ready for Sandy. Couldn't find any D batteries anywhere, and that's what the flashlights run on, but plenty of AA, AAA, C...lots of candles, radios, lots of stuff charged & ready to go. Freezer is nearly full with ice packs, plenty of non-perishables, books from the library, generally good to go.
Went to do the early voting thing today, the first day it was available. There are five places in my county for that, first we went where we went in 2008, a community center. Naturally every rec field was in use, there was no parking, and the police had to close down part of the road to do traffic control. I saw exactly one sign for Democrats but hundreds for Republicans. Every electioneer - Republican. Eesh. The line? Out of the center, across a pedestrian bridge and into the ballfields on the other side. 2+ hour wait. There was no way Mom could stand that long, so we set off for another place, a library where my Mom used to work and my father had been the manager for many years. Plenty of parking there (nearly abandoned shopping center) but another long line. Not as long this time. A guy ahead of us had gone to a third location before going to the community center and now to the library - he said the first one had a 3 hour wait. Apparently we like to vote around here.
There was another avalanche of Republican signs, but there were only two electioneers there - one for Romney, and one real live Congressional candidate. A Libertarian refugee from the Ron Paul camp. We told him we sympathize, but we didn't want to waste our vote. As it turned out, we were between two middle-aged white men retired on disability. Both Democrats! Very fortunate, it could have been an awfully long wait. But the line moved steadily and it took about 50 minutes to get in, then almost no wait to vote. And Mom seemed to understand the machines better this time. Then we browsed the library, Mom ran into a librarian she used to work with, and then we moved on. I do have to say, though, I was very concerned by the plethora of Republican signs, bumper stickers, etc, some of them outright racist/homophobic, in a blue state and a traditionally Democratic stronghold neighborhood. I hope it's just squeaky wheels. It was certainly heartening to meet two white working-class men who thought Obama was by far the better candidate.
Went to do the early voting thing today, the first day it was available. There are five places in my county for that, first we went where we went in 2008, a community center. Naturally every rec field was in use, there was no parking, and the police had to close down part of the road to do traffic control. I saw exactly one sign for Democrats but hundreds for Republicans. Every electioneer - Republican. Eesh. The line? Out of the center, across a pedestrian bridge and into the ballfields on the other side. 2+ hour wait. There was no way Mom could stand that long, so we set off for another place, a library where my Mom used to work and my father had been the manager for many years. Plenty of parking there (nearly abandoned shopping center) but another long line. Not as long this time. A guy ahead of us had gone to a third location before going to the community center and now to the library - he said the first one had a 3 hour wait. Apparently we like to vote around here.
There was another avalanche of Republican signs, but there were only two electioneers there - one for Romney, and one real live Congressional candidate. A Libertarian refugee from the Ron Paul camp. We told him we sympathize, but we didn't want to waste our vote. As it turned out, we were between two middle-aged white men retired on disability. Both Democrats! Very fortunate, it could have been an awfully long wait. But the line moved steadily and it took about 50 minutes to get in, then almost no wait to vote. And Mom seemed to understand the machines better this time. Then we browsed the library, Mom ran into a librarian she used to work with, and then we moved on. I do have to say, though, I was very concerned by the plethora of Republican signs, bumper stickers, etc, some of them outright racist/homophobic, in a blue state and a traditionally Democratic stronghold neighborhood. I hope it's just squeaky wheels. It was certainly heartening to meet two white working-class men who thought Obama was by far the better candidate.
