Election Day Wrap-Up

Each time our family pulls out of the driveway, I send out a little alert/reminder about where we are going.

Yesterday was no different.

As we backed out, I said, "And we're off to the polls!"

Cuckoo immediately got excited about going swimming.

For the ten minutes it took to get to the library and our voting location, we endured a conversation all about when did they build a pool at the library? and you make pools with blue! and I like to go swimming but not with my head under.

After seeing the results, I wish more Democrats would have gone to the pools. 

That's all I have to say about that.

Now that the election is over and the winners have been dubbed, I would like to put a few more things to a vote. 

For example, what would your vote for "Most Garish, Unnecessary Graph Used to Give Voting Results" be?  I would have to say that lighting up the Empire State Building has to be in the running.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that John Jakob Raskob did not have that use in mind when he came up with the idea to build the world's tallest building.

I'm thinking Florida would have a landslide win in the "State That Shouldn't Be Allowed to Vote" category.  We thought that the hanging chads fiasco would have jump-started them to get their act together, but we were wrong.  They were having trouble with people not signing their ballots.   I actually laughed when one analyst called them the long-standing problem child.

We don't even need to have a vote for "Most Impressive Procrastinators".  The folks waiting in line to register to vote on Election Day can run for that uncontested.   I want to ask them what happened yesterday that didn't happen in the last 18 months of political ads, speeches, fliers, calls, and polls to get them off the couch in order to get that errand done. 

And for "Graphics Team With Too Many People and/or Too Much Time" my vote goes to CNN's Election Night in America.  All night long I was shouting at them, "Too much!  Too much!"  The poll closing countdowns, the hypothetical models, the red-lighted "Ballot Cam", the balance of power graphics, the major projection song and dance.  Oh, and the innumerable touch screens.  Have mercy.  Really, CNN.  Have.  Mercy.  We get it.  You are technologically savvy.  You have cool toys.  You don't need to use them all at once. 

What about the best way for a reporter to let us know that everything they are about to say is completely made up and they are really just blowing smoke?  In the running:

"Less than five percent of votes have been counted, so let's not jump to conclusions, but ..."

"It's still early, and the polls haven't even closed yet, but..."

"These are just exit polls and don't necessarily reflect actual results."

I'd have a tough time deciding where to cast my vote on that one.

We have a last minute addition to our ballots. I wasn't expecting to have "Person Most in Need of Sending a Thank You Card to a Teacher" category. A reporter was beaming with pride when he said, "See these pencil marks? I don't have a calculator. I did the calculations by hand!" His fifth grade math teacher deserves some credit for that one. 

Fortunately, news shows don't tell the real story of our election process.  You know what does?  The long lines of people waiting to cast their votes.

Despite the long line in the chilly fall weather at our polling place, not one person was grumpy. Not one person seemed to mind the wait. People were passing the time playing games on their phones. Or chatting with their neighbors. There were smiles, not frowns.

In fact, it was very much like a line of people waiting to get on a roller coaster, except the tattoos and skimpy clothes were covered up by layers of warm clothing.

It wasn't anything like standing in line at the grocery store, where people huff, sigh, and complain.

Seeing the number of people who took their right to vote seriously, and didn't mind waiting in line to do so, made me proud of our country.

So I almost cried.

Because I'm a sap.

And those people in Virginia waiting for up to FOUR HOURS to vote.  They deserve the "Dedicated to Democracy" vote. 

Even if I don't like the way they voted.

OK, that's really all I have to say about that.

Have a lovely day!