Tag Archives: Elections

Reflections on the Election

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Sorry for the spotty blogging this week. My life has been a bit on the crazy side lately (not necessarily in a bad way). That said, this will likely be the last post this week.

I really enjoyed working the election yesterday. The people I worked with were fun, and I enjoyed working to get people in and out as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We had about 27% turn out at our precinct, though there was only 21% turnout county wide. It was a municipal election so those aren’t bad numbers, but it’s sad to say that. Personally, I find the municipal elections to have more relevance to my life than national ones, you know?

Even sadder than those numbers is the fact that I only met 2 others who live in my complex, and I personally dealt with at least 1/3 of the voters who came through. So if we extrapolate that, we’d have to guess that maybe 9 people from my complex came through. Out of at least 100 possible voters (probably more than that), that’s absolutely horrible.

One of the people I helped was actually a candidate for school board, a candidate that I just voted for about an hour prior. She commended me on handling my job appropriately and told me a horror story of something that happened in another precinct the year before. That was before I realized she was a candidate who had a vested interest.

I’ll definitely be working elections again, Lord willing. It was an exhausting day, but we get paid okay, and honestly, I’d do it for free. Our next elections are in May (primary and constitutional amendment) and November, which both promise to have much higher turnouts.

My New Role in Politics

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What do I write today? Of course I’ll write about the elections, we’re all thinking about it anyway. But what do I say? I thought I might just write what I wrote in my journal last night, but I don’t feel like today is a day for being divisive. I believe that God has His sovereign hand over the elections, so I fill work with these elected officials, even if they weren’t the ones for whom I voted (and let’s face it, I don’t think I’ve ever voted for such a losing ballot).

I’m more determined than ever to be involved in politics. Sure it’s a mess, but there are things I can do. I can commit to pray for elected officials more than I have. Let’s face it, praying for the president every couple of weeks isn’t praying on “behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

I also can write to my elected officials, encouraging them to do the right thing on important issues. I actually got this idea from a book I was reading yesterday for school, but I’m going to write congratulations letters to each of the major elected officials yesterday (president, senator, governor, and representative). These won’t be you’re-my-elected-official-now-do-what-I-say type of letters, but a genuine congratulations and a commitment to pray for them. Why should I only write to them when I think they’ve messed up?

So no, this isn’t the outcome that I would like, but it’s what our sovereign, holy, and just Lord has ordained. And in Him I hope.

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Oh, sorry about forgetting this. Though it is implied in this post, I’m thankful that I have an all-knowing, all-powerful God. When things seem to be falling apart, I know that the Rock is always standing firm.

I Have a Sticker on My Shirt

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Well, I voted. I went first thing this morning and had to wait about 40 minutes in this battleground state. This was the 2nd presidential election I’ve voted in; I was 6 weeks shy of 18 in 2000 (hey, I guess that means that my birthday is coming up, yay!).

This was the first election that I carried a cheat sheet in with me so I knew who I wanted to vote for (and who I didn’t want to vote for). I don’t know why that’s never occurred to me before. I completed my ballot as quickly as I could fill in those little bubbles.

There were no surprises this time, either. This was my second time with paper ballots so I was more comfortable with them (in Kansas it was always machines). I was at a different polling place this time which was much bigger, so they had tables you could fill out your ballot on, not just the booths. This means that the pens weren’t tied down which was a huge help to this lefty.

I really didn’t want to vote straight Republican. But when I got all done, every partisan office I had chosen a Republican for on the issues, not the party. There was only one where I was on the fence about, but I realized it would be as stupid to vote for the Democrat just because I could say I didn’t vote all Republican as it would to be to vote for the Republican just because he was a Republican. So I voted for the one that I was slightly more in favor of, who happened to be the Republican. There was one other partisan office where I didn’t vote for anybody as both candidates were running on a pro-big government platform, and I didn’t vote for many of the judges. If they don’t reveal their judicial philosophy, I’m not voting for them!

If you voted today, what was the experience like?

And yes, I ate my donuts this morning.

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I’m thankful to live in a country where I can vote. Representative government sure has it’s faults, but I think I prefer it.

Election Craziness Syndrome

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You may be suffering from election craziness syndrome if:

  • The various campaigns are resorting to buying advertising during football. This weekend was the first time that I really felt like the political commercials put a damper on my football-watching relaxation. I have found it interesting that there is a much higher percentage of political advertisements during shows such as Jeopardy than in sports programming. Hmm.
  • You receive 10 messages on your work phone, and 6 of them are messages from various political campaigns. Hey, it’s great to be remembered, right? (Since I don’t have a home phone I no longer receive these types of incessant phone calls that I received during the primaries.)
  • You finally get tired of ignoring the election coverage and start paying attention again.
  • You have almost completely determined your ballot. You can no longer wait until the last minute, because it IS the last minute.
  • You start craving donuts. (I’m SO going out for donuts after I vote tomorrow morning, just like we always did growing up.)

No known cure. Symptoms are anticipated to be relieved come November 5th.

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I’m thankful to live in a country where I can voice my opinions on public policy.

I Voted

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I don’t have a lot of time as today is so crazy busy. I like crazy busy, but my body just wants to sleep. The crazy thing is, I’ve gotten a good night’s sleep every night for at least a week, yet my body is so worn out from all the thinking (paper writing requires a lot of brain power) and going, going, going. I’ll write my last paper tomorrow, so I hope things will slow down after that…until I have finals and move.

So, first thing this morning I went and voted. Since I’m basically in class all day, I wanted to make sure I made time for this. The polling place was busy, but there was no line, just a lot of people coming and going. I imagine there will be a line later today, but they have about 8 different booths which will cut down on too much waiting.

It was definitely different than my experience voting in Kansas. I’ve always voted (even as a kid doing the Kid Voting thing) on an electronic system, so I was a little taken aback by the paper ballot I was handed. They had pens in each of the booths tied to strings, but I didn’t appreciate having to scower to find a voting booth with the longest string just so this leftie could use it too. I probably should have said something, but I suppose I could have used my own pen if I wanted.

It felt good voting for Mike Huckabee, even though he’s no longer in the running. I’m just glad to have the opportunity to do it. I’m so unfamiliar with state politics, that I had to memorize the names of the other individuals who I was voting for, since I hardly know them. I hope I made the right choices!

Well, I better run since the notes I was printing are done. Tell me, what is your funniest voting experience?

Elections Are in the Air

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Ah, it’s finally our turn. On Tuesday, people statewide will be going out to vote in the presidential primary, gubernatorial (yep, had to use spell check on that one) primary, and other primary races. In some ways, this feels like my first grownup time to vote as I’m not in a different state. It’ll only be my second time to go to the polls, as I’ve primarily have had to vote using advanced ballots because until recently I haven’t lived in the same state I was registered to vote in.

We’ve started getting phone calls from the campaigns of a couple of the gubernatorial candidates (I have to use that word again now that I know how to spell it). Today when I came home, there was a message from a race car driver for one of the candidates. Let me tell you, there’s probably not an endorsement I care about less than a Nascar racer’s, but nevertheless now I know who this stranger is voting for.

As I was driving by the historic downtown of this small town, there were about 50 bazillion police cars (we may have only 12,000 residents, but a quarter of them are police officers) and a bunch of vendors packing up Hillary Clinton gear. Nothing like an election to bring out the salesmen.

I thought that maybe Chelsea was in town for a rally earlier today (certainly Hillary or Bill wouldn’t come and me not know it, right?), so I looked it up online. Sure enough, it was Hillary herself who came for a rally. I’m been following these things pretty close, so why didn’t I know? I might have thought about stopping by and checking out the atmosphere.

For those who are curious, it’s been pretty clear for sometime that Barack Obama was more popular in North Carolina. In the last couple of weeks, though, I’ve been seeing a lot more Clinton things. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was able to pull off the win, bolstering her chance for the nomination. Crazy.

Panera and Presidential Politics

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I tried to post this while I was at Panera this afternoon, but apparently this is “not authorized for viewing.” I haven’t a clue why. Maybe they think I look ornery and will post something about their food tastes like two-day-old socks. Believe me; I won’t since I come here almost every week!

One year from today is the election for the president of the United States. Of course, if it is anything like the last two elections, we won’t know who won the first day, but that is certainly the day that America will choose where our country should be going.

I have already mentioned my choice of presidential candidates here. While I believe that he is the best for the job, I’m perfectly aware that he may not be elected. As a Christian, I can rest assured that God can work in our government regardless of who is in office (even if it’s Hillary!). The Lord knows much better than me, anyway!

Ronnica
NaBloPoMo, Day 4