Duty to the Republic

I am a self-confessed Old Guy, so I like to actually travel to my polling place on election day to cast my vote. Today I dropped by on the way to work and encountered a uncrowded community hall, staffed by the lovely white-haired ladies whe are, to me, as certain a fixture of American Democracy as the Capitol dome.

So some brief observations:

When I showed my ID to the woman with the polling book list, I announced my address. The woman at the next table called out, "What house do you live in?" When I said that I was the next-door neighbor of G____, she said, "Oh yes! Your wife pet-sits dogs!" By our fruits are we known.

I was half-way through marking my ballot when a woman who had come in after me went up to the poll workers and started asking questions about the candidates on the ballot. They told her several times that they could not, by law, do anything more than hand her the ballot. I called out to her that if she was too confused she could just copy my completed ballot. That got a chuckle from the workers. They pointed out that copies of the the state-printer voter's guide were available across the room, but she dismissed them as "too complicated."

Finally this woman asked why her ballot didn't have the candidates Dave Reichert and Darcy Burner. (These two candidates have been flooding the airwaves with ads for the last three weeks.) She was informed that they were candidates for District 8 (which encompasses Seattle and the highly populated I-5 corridor. We were in District 2. This did not molify her, nor did it explain to her why she was not allowed to vote in an election that would affect all of Washington state.

God Save the Republic!

UPDATE: Let me acknowlege that Taleena of Sun Comprehending Glass called and offered to drive my wife to the polling place later today. She was also offering to baby-sit for moms that wanted to get to the polls. Large snaps to her.

LATER UPDATE: Here in Western Washington, heavy rains, caused by a series of low-pressure cells, over the North Pacific have caused flooding in Washington's I-5 corridor. I will be interested if this affects voter turnout in the liberal heart of the East/West Conservative/Liberal divide in Washington state.

Man, that Rove and his wacky weather machine!