Let's vote

Ruby, don't you want to pop over to Weaver Street Market after voting?

I've always loved voting on election day, but I found out today that a family emergency may take me out of town. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to vote early this year.

Souther Rails for brunch at 11?
JAcquie Gist

I was thinking I'd take the daughter with me to vote - it's a little ritual we have (and she's really excited about the election signs all over the place) - but for a sit down restaurant brunch I could vote and then drop her back at home.

I'm officially feeling sorry for myself because I am (self-) disenfranchised. Partly my own fault and partly because voting in local elections while overseas (without an APO box or employment by the federal government) is a pain in the ass.

Apparently, I would have needed to request a ballot 45 days before the election to use the federal absentee ballot postcard thing (which is what everything refers to when you go to look online about voting from overseas). I just did not have elections on my mind in early September.

To mail in the ballot, I needed to have it there 30 days before the election. And that would have counted only if the Orange County Board of Elections accepted my federal write-in absentee ballot for local elections.

The Orange County Board of Election Absentee Voting pageis a tad more helpful:

Deadlines
The following deadlines apply to absentee voting:
Registered voters wishing to vote by absentee ballot must submit a request in writing to the Board of Elections no later than one week (7 days) prior to the election in which they wish to vote.
Ballots will be mailed to absentee applicants within two days of the receipt of the application.
Completed ballots must be received in the Board of Elections office by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the election.

But this deadline is obviously geared towards people in the country and probably in the state.

Does anyone else think this should be much, much easier? Is there any good reason we couldn't use the internet for this?

Except for one primary, I think this is the first time in my voting eligible life that I haven't voted. And I pretty much only decided whom to vote for in the past few weeks, though I'm still not clear on the school board.

And getting this all done would have been worth two votes because my husband would have voted too and we usually vote the same way because he finds my endorsements very persuasive.

Grr.

So, someone, please go vote twice, once for me. (har har)

Wouldn't someone need to vote three times - once for themselves, once for you, Joan and once for your husband?

I'll be at the Town Hall at 10:30 sans child who says she wants to have fun with her grandmother and not vote.

And now we discover the true horror of two people with the same IP address. Paul R. will not be meeting Ruby and Jacquie at Town Hall tomorrow morning.
I Maria R. will.

Who's gathering where on Election Night?

Dan Coleman's supporters are gathering on the hood of his car.

(It's a joke, people! A joke!)

That was pretty good, Eric.