I Voted Today!

"I Voted Today!" exclaims my little round sticker affixed snugly to my black, work polo shirt. Indeed I did vote today. I must say I was pleasantly surprised with how damn quickly I was able to register and cast my ballot.

I had been voting for years in Buxton, the town I grew up in. I was all set to do that this year as well until I spoke to a friend I work with who made it a point to say he was bringing several forms of proof of residency just in case something went screwy. That got me thinking...I was planning on driving out to Buxton Town Hall after I got out of work in South Portland at 5pm. But as Andrew was telling about his precautions in order to avoid disaster, I got to thinking about how my license says I live in Saco. I hadn't needed to get a new license since the first one I was issued, so it had always said Buxton until I had to get a new one this year due to expiration. Yes, I know you're supposed to get one within 30 days after moving to a new address, but fuck it. I never did, and it never mattered. I even had a few run-ins with the fuzz, and they didn't care. So I decided to leave work at 1:00 so I could make sure I was able to register at Saco City Hall and then go to my polling place to cast my votes. Just yesterday my fiance Janelle had registered here in Saco, and she told me she had to wait nearly an hour while one Blue Hair well within the discounted coffee age sorted through and assisted several people in registering to vote. The way I figured it, since I was literally at the last minute, then maybe I would have to wait at least that long. And then who knows how long I would have to wait to actually cast my vote in this Historic Election?

Well I didn't. Nope. It took me 20 minutes to drive to Saco from South Portland, and it took me less than that to not only register, but also travel to my designated polling place and vote. I also could have registered right there at the school I was assigned to, and had I known that, I wouldn't have even left work when I did. Polls are open til 8 (you got less than 2 hours left at this point if you haven't voted.) and I get out at five, so I would have been able to swing it.

I voted for Obama for President of the United States. If you would like to know why, then check out my past blog titled "Election 08: WTF?!?" Not to toot my own horn, but it's probably my favorite blog that I've written so far in my short Blogging Career. Anyway, voting for Obama/Biden was the easy part. There were also three referendum questions that Janelle and I had gone over last night so those were a cake walk as well. But let me tell you about the difficult part of my voting experience. Folks, I was unaware that Judge of Probate, Register of Probate, and County Treasurer were in dire need of my hot little vote.

County Treasurer? Register and Judge of Probate? Really?! Why aren't these positions just filled? I don't understand why my input is needed when it comes to putting someone in charge of Probate. Seriously, I didn't even know we had to vote for that! It's bad enough when you have to vote for all the senate and state representatives on top of voting for Prez, but I'm supposed to know something about who is better suited for Judge of Probate? There was only one choice for Christ's sake! I hope she's good. She got my vote. Why don't they just have us vote for county mechanic also? I mean someone has to work on city vehicles, and I need to know that person has only my best interest as an American in mind when they're tightening lug nuts on a snow plow! And what about City Librarian? How can I be sure that my rights as a citizen of this Grand Country are being kept in favor by whoever is in charge of our city's literature distribution? These are the things to think about for the next election. I mean President is important, but if my vote is needed for County Treasurer, then I want it to be heard for Chief Street Sweeper as well.

(Ok, I waited til the end before I chimed in on this one....wow....at least he voted for Obama...and we've talked about this, man....use pictures! People like pictures...)