Democratic process

[owlmoose]

So many times I have woken up like this on the first Tuesday in November: excited, nervous, with reason to be hopeful that this is the election that will work out the way I want it to. Occasionally (like last year), I have been rewarded, but more often not, more often I have wound up crushed and bereft, shellshocked in front of the television. 2000, of course, and 2004 perhaps even more so, but I also remember 1994 as being particularly demoralizing, especially in comparision to the pure glee of 1992.

This year has been no different: vascillating polls, mixed evidence, no idea what will happen when results start coming in. About the only thing I care about that's certain is that the Governator will be re-elected (which is annoying, but not as hair-tearingly frustrating as it would have been a year ago -- miracle of miracles, he actually learned from the special election debacle and seems to have returned to his original coalition-building ways; I'm still not going to vote for him, but as long as Democrats win the other statewide races, and they probably will, I can live with it). Everything else still seems to be up in the air. Not individual races, of course, I know a lot of those are likely settled, but the over all trend. Can the Democrats take back the House? Or (hope of all hopes) the Senate? Will the good propositions pass and the bad ones fail? Will this be the year that we finally get rid of my obnoxious and childish county supervisor? Only time, now, will tell.

So I am doing my very very best to sweep expectations aside today. And I have promised myself not to camp out in front of the computer, refreshing Salon and Slate and SFGate and CNN for early returns and exit polling data. It's too late to do anything other than cast my vote and drop off T's absentee ballot, so I need to make every effort not to stress, and not to take the results of this election too much too heart. The world kept turning after Gore and Kerry lost; the sun will still rise tomorrow if Nancy Pelosi is not the Speaker of the House-elect.

But damn, how I want it.

Okay. Vote early, vote often. And if you want to geek out over results, or just some old fashioned distraction, ping me. This is not the night for anyone to sit isolated at home, stomach in knots as the CNN ticker crawls by. We're all in this together. That's what democracy is all about, after all.

Updated, post-election booth: So, I got an early start and voted before work. I was the third person to cast my ballot (fourth, if you count T's drop-off). Now I have my "I Voted!" sticker. I love this sticker. It's everything that's good about democracy on a little piece of paper.

San Francisco is shrouded in fog this morning. I hope that's just the weather and not a metaphor.

Comments

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

Atlanta, too, is wearing a burqua of fog this morning. It adds a strange and wonderful glow to the autumnal colour of the trees, the maples and ginkgos especially. No one in my precinct, neither voters nor officials, seemed in the least confident of the trustworthiness of the Diebold machines we must use. No paper trail, etc. Still we were all Norman Rockwell serious about doing our civic duty. I doubt this precinct will tot up more then a half-dozen Republican votes (in an honest tally). Would that the rest of this dreadful state were so sensible.

You are right, there is no use sitting at either the computer or the television and hatching an ulcer. We know they will steal it if they can. They have done it three times already. Our hope must be that with many eyes watching and suspicious of their actions and that with so vast a number of furious voters, they will be discouraged from their nefarious attempts.

Gott mit uns.

Re: I

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I just went for my coffee, and our fog has lifted to reveal a gorgeous day: not a cloud in the sky, bright sun, warm but not too hot. Now this as a metaphor, I can get behind.

We have optical scanner machines, which I think are ideal: easy to use, counted electrically but with a clear paper trail. Given that you live in such a solidly Democratic district, I doubt that Diebold will try anything funny. Much easier to get away with it in precints that could go either way.

I would agree with your contention that it's harder to get away with shenanigans with so many people alert to the possibility, but I would have said the same thing in 2004. :< Well, we shall have to see. And agitate, if necessary. And continue to hope for the best.

[yuna-flowering.livejournal.com]

I would vote, but I'm 4 months too young... :( (*grumble*grumble*) I know my brother is voting though, and everybody in my family is doing the right thing (but I think New York and Michigan are pretty liberal anyway, so it doesn't do as much good as if it were a battleground state...)

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Actually there were key races in both states, and the Democrats seem to be winning them. So, yay for your family! :D