duermemucho's diary

duermemucho's Diaryland Diary

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voting

Election day is next week, but I voted (by mail-in ballot) today. So as of today, the latest entry in my list of "things that are strikingly different about Washington compared to Ohio" is how flippin' easy it is to vote here. You only need to have lived in the state for 30 days prior to the election, and need to register only 30 days in advance of the election...meaning you could move into your sister's attic in Tacoma on October 7, register to vote that day, vote next week and head back to San Diego later that day, having potentially changed the course of American politics.

In Ohio, meanwhile, you must have been a permanent resident of the state for a year prior (IIRC) to registration, must register IN PERSON (the first time, at least) at various "official" locations 90 days prior to the election, and registration forms must be filled out on a specific type of paper. Yes, seriously...and after the 2004 elections, the Ohio secretary of state declared a good number of votes invalid, because those voters had indeed registered using forms printed on the wrong type of paper. The kicker? Said secretary of state is African American, so for historical reasons you'd expect him to be a little leery of such Jim Crow policies which, let's be honest, are engineered to keep service workers, young people, and people without cars (i.e., non-Republicans) away from the polls.

But in all honesty, I don't really like the idea of voting by mail. What if it falls on the floor of the USPS truck and nobody notices it until after the election results have been announced? What if the truck goes off the highway and bursts into flame, taking my ballot and hundreds of collection notices, birthday cards, bank statements, and pitches for low introductory rate credit cards with it?

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Nutsack is 99% back to normal. Days getting shorter. Alcohol running low.

5:35 p.m. - 2006-10-27

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