Perri Nelson's Website 

Election Day

It's here again. The first Tuesday in November. Time to go to participate in the only poll that really matters. Sometime in the morning I'll get into my car and drive off to the local polling place, look about in confusion until I find the roll where my name is entered and pick up a ballot.

I'll take part in a multiple choice test. I'll fill in a series of ovals with ink, selecting carefully the answers that I believe to be correct. Then I'll turn my ballot in, sliding it into an optical reader and counter.

It's probably the last opportunity I'll get to do that as long as I live in the state of Washington. Next year, King County switches to all mail elections. I am not looking forward to it.

Twenty nine years ago I did this for the first time. I really only cared about one race, the race for President. I voted for the actor. I don't remember anything else about that election, other than how it felt to cast a ballot and participate in the selection of the people that would represent me.

It was a great feeling. I actually felt like my vote made a difference. I was confident that the system would work.

Why? First of all, because I had to show a photo ID at the polling place. My signature was compared to the signature on my driver's license. My name and address were verified, as was my voter registration. None of this was onerous. It was the price I paid for the privilege.

Today I'm not so sure about the system. Last year, King County mishandled thousands of mail-in ballots. Last year, a dog voted. Well, not really, but the woman who registered the dog to vote did send in a ballot with the dog's paw-print on it. The dog was actually registered to vote.

Last year, there were thousands of fraudulent voter registrations turned in. We've been told that none of them translated into fraudulent votes. For some reason I'm skeptical. After all, the only thing that kept that dog's vote from being counted was the paw-print instead of a signature.

Last year we had rallies in major cities to support "undocumented workers". Thousands of people that came here under questionable circumstances were given the opportunity to register to vote. Nobody asked about citizenship.

That bothers me. It bothers me a lot. When I go to the polls tomorrow, I can be certain that somewhere somebody that isn't legally eligible to vote will be voting and diluting my vote.

I'm going to vote anyway. I know that in most of the races I vote in, I will be vastly outnumbered. I believe in limited government. I believe in accountable government. There are a lot of people in King County though that believe that government should be larger.

They believe that government has to provide a safety net for everyone. They believe that government has to provide health care for us all. They believe that we should all get out of our cars, move away from the suburbs and live in apartments and condominiums downtown, and ride the bus.

They believe that we should pay an extra fee to recycle table scraps. They believe that we should happily pay two or three times as much to register our cars so that we can have more transit that people won't ride and wait another ten years or more to fix our roads.

They believe we should pay more next year for the privilege of waiting longer. They believe that trial lawyers aught to be allowed to sue insurance carriers for triple damages.

I've got to vote. Somebody has to say NO to these wastrels. Even if my voice is drowned out by the "found" ballots during the recounts.

This linkfest is for election day, the 6th of November, 2007.

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