I am a blue state. This is my story.
Today started well. I got to the polls at 7AM and was the 42nd person to vote. Luckily at that time there was no line and I just walked right up and voted. It was a little disconcerting that they never asked for picture ID or my registration card. I just had to sign next to an old copy of my signature. For someone artistic, you could have signed my name and none would have been the wiser. I guess the Chicago addage of ‘Vote Early, Vote Often’ could be easy to do. Makes me wonder how it is in other states. ugh.
The forms were excellent though. They used little circles that you had to fill in with a marker. No hanging chads, no punch cards, no crap, AND a paper trail. Brilliant. In my opinion it would be pretty hard to screw with this system.
Right afterwards I traversed to my dentist to finally finish the saga that started back in August. Got my new tooth installed and was on my way.
To celebrate America and our democracy, I then had Chinese food for lunch. I’m John Roling and I approve this potsticker!
Lastly, my wife went to the polling place to vote in the afternoon and took my daughters. Kali is almost three, and for the kids, they had a vote between Abraham Lincoln and Susan B. Anthony. While the pollster was explaining this to her, she looked up at him and simply said ‘I want to vote for Kerry!”
Now let’s hope America is as smart as my daughter.
November 3, 2004 @ 2:09 pm
No id, and not even a signature required here in NH. Just show up, say your name, have it checked against a list, and say “Yes” when they read off your address. I have never understood how it is that we justify leaving the single most important check and balance in our system so totally unprotected.
We do use the optical scan system here, too, though.
-rich