It\’s done. I\’ve gone to my polling place and voted.
At the table where I signed in, the woman who looked up my name called me “Joel”. I told her she had the wrong guy and, with obvious surprise, she said I look like someone else in the district with that name. I prefer to think he is very, very handsome.
I then asked her whether, given that she clearly did not know who I was, I needed to show any identification. She said I did not…which means that if I could more or less duplicate the signature of the person on the page I had to sign before voting – a signature fully visible to me at the time – I would have no problem voting even if I were someone else. That is insane.
I was voter #14, in a district which, I was told, has about 600 registered voters. Since it was about 8:00AM, they were “piling in” at a rate of 7 an hour. If it continued at that rate, the district would wind up with a total of 98 votes cast. I was, however, assured that most people come later in the day. I certainly hope so.
As usual, I voted for both Republicans and Democrats.
My pick for Governor was Republican Jeff Bell, largely because, though he is a sacrificial lamb with no realistic chance to win, I thought he ran a positive, issue-oriented – if anonymous – campaign. This was not a passionate choice: I voted for Democrat Cory Booker in last year\’s special election and, had I not chosen to acknowledge the quality of Mr. Bell\’s campaign, I would have been fine with voting for him again.
In any event, voting – for me – is now a done deal. I hope that, by the end of the day, every reader can say the same.
