Tuesday, November 06, 2012

I cast my vote

I have done my civic duty and I have voted.

It is very easy here in Cedar Rapids, IA. In fact for me it was very easy because the voting place is just a short walk through the little neighborhood park to the church next door.

This was a different experience from 2 years ago in West Des Moines. There I had to show a valid ID before I could vote. I don't think that is in fact legal or at least conventional procedure but that is what they were doing.

Today I just walked in and got in line for the S thru Z names. I signed in, verbally gave my name and address and the response was "Your good to go." No request for an ID, no hassles at all. I signed the eligible voter list and was given a ballot. There was a table set up with little shields to provide a modicum of privacy. Then when I was done I put the ballot into the automatic scanner/reader and I was done. The whole thing took maybe ten minutes.

I guess I'm ambivalent about the ID issue. I can see the need if there is evidence or even a legitimate suspicion of voter fraud but that just isn't the case, at least not here in Iowa. Oh yea, I've heard the old saw about Chicago politics - "Vote early and vote often" but there just isn't any reason to believe that is an issue here. Counter that with the very real history of poll taxes and other forms of voter suppression from past history and I'm inclined to opt for ease of voting. Especially in areas where less than 50% of the people even bother to vote.

One thing I am not ambivalent about is getting this over with. Here in Iowa we have been subjected with over a year of political ads. We are a swing state so for the past months we have been bombarded with political attack ads. One report tallied over 1600 TV ads each day. It has gotten to the point that any TV that I watch is streamed off Netflix. I sincerely hope that the issues are decided today and we can move on with our lives in peace, at least for a couple of years.

But for now, I will leave the TV off and pray for

PEACE.

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