Justin du Coeur (jducoeur) wrote,
Justin du Coeur
jducoeur

Observations from a polling booth

Our old voting machines (the ones with all the levers and automatic curtains and such) got replaced last year by SAT-style paper ballots. On the one hand, the practical side of me approves of the change: the paper system is much cheaper and easier, and doesn't take nearly as much space, so that they can handle sixteen people voting at once. That means that the old lines for the machines have completely vanished. But a part of me misses the visceral fun of pulling the levers, and the loud noises the machine would make when you pulled the big lever that registered your vote and opened the curtain. And there's something oddly lonely about the *lack* of a line -- you just don't get the feeling of the community working together for the commonweal that the old ten-minute wait engendered.

What the heck is the "State Committee", and why are there separate ballot sections for "State Committee -- Woman" and "State Committee -- Man"? Time for a little research...

I really ought to get myself on the Ward Committee, just on the principle of preventing it from being completely incestuous. From the ballot, I gather that the committee is supposed to be fifteen people. There were five on the ballot. Four of them live in the same house. Two of them have the same *name*...
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