Voting

Carol & I were bugging both boys to get out and vote prior to the election. We never even suggested who to vote for, we just felt it was important for them to study things and get out and vote.

Kevin wrote about his voting experience:

My Voting Experience: Or Why Democracy Fails

By Kevin McCullough

Six A.M. is damn early for a young man to get up, no matter what the reason was. Fulfilling my 'civic duty' I set the alarm early the night before, and tried to steal away a few hours of sleep before my alarm started screaming.

I arrived at Rockwood South, my polling place, at around 7:20, The upper and lower parking lots were full, and cars were parked all along the quarter-mile stretch of road pulling up to the school. I managed to park on the far end of the upper lot, and briskly walked toward the front doors, where I was met by a squat middle-aged man rambling about how I should support such-and-such a proposition, apparently unaware of my complete indifference to him and his opinion. Entering the building I immediately spotted a line leading out of the gymnasium, the polling place, and down the hallway.

I walked down a line of people towards the middle of the hallway leading out of the gymnasium, and stood in line. Looking down the line, I noticed a former Rockwood student who was few grades above me leaving the polling place, smiling dully. He was learning disabled and struggled through school with the help of a resource officer from K-12.

Discouragement sets in. Nothing wrong with being mentally handicapped - I'm sure he's a productive member of society, but maybe you shouldn't be making important decisions about the future of the country.

It took close to an hour to move up past getting my initial voting card to actually get in line to cast my ballot. I chose the electronic voting method, which I assumed would be quicker. One of the four touch-screen machines was taken up by an older man, moving closer and farther away from the machine in an attempt to read it; he needed constant assistance from an attendant. It was painfully obvious he had no idea how to use a computer, but decided to make this day the day he feebly takes the plunge into the 21st century.

I finally left almost an hour and a half later, which is I guess was expected. It's not like they knew there was going to be a high turnout and could be prepared ahead of time, or come up with a more efficient system.

On the way to work, I came inches from being sideswiped traveling down 44 towards 270 N. I threw on the horn, but even that was not enough to deter the car to the right of me to stop merging with me in the lane; I hade to make an extreme swerve to avoid a high-speed accident. Election day is the most dangerous day to drive - worse than the drunks on New Years or the Superbowl, and results show they lead to 24 more deaths and 800 more people suffering disabling injuries as a result of the crashes. Apparently idiots are worse than drunks, and they come out in droves to throw in their input on the most important decisions facing the country. Highway 44, by the way, was jammed getting on 270 N, due to a four car fender bender by the Dougherty Ferry exit.

So we are placing the country in the hands of people who don’t understand how to vote, some that can barely read, and lots who can't operate a motor vehicle. No wonder the country is where it is today. You can blame the president, you can blame congress, but it is the masses that vote and put them in power.