Electioneering

Pat Rice, the Unerudite One reporting:

In a moment of Blatant Self Promotion, I will note that a bookstore in KY is posting an interview of me at http://www.thebookstore-radcliff.com/PatriciaRiceInterviewNovember20006.html (or go to www.thebookstore-radcliff.com and click on author interviews; she has some great stuff in there).  For those of you who want to know the nitty-gritty about me, there it all is, laid out for your perusal.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming!

Ha, as if I’ve ever regularly scheduled anything, or even have this blog neatly researched and ready to go. Yeah, right, and I have my house dusted and my car serviced regularly, too.  I really think that’s why I write historicals—I have serious servant envy.

I adore the fantasy of having someone to make meals for me, set it on the table, and clean up afterward, so all I have to do is sit down in my gorgeous gown and eat it---while smiling prettily and wearing a corset. Okay, so maybe I know too much to fantasize the real deal. In today’s houses, having someone banging around in the kitchen all day would get annoying pretty quickly, especially for those of us who work at home.

And while servicing the car is a pain in the neck involving actually leaving my house and sitting around an oily waiting room for untold amounts of time, consider the historical alternative---walking ten miles a day for everything from visiting to shopping, or shelling out the bucks to own a stable and a horse and a carriage and pay stableboys and grooms and…  Maybe that oily waiting room isn’t so bad after all.

But one thing I’m certain I wouldn’t miss if I was living in the eighteenth century—election ads on television!  I swear, if honesty was a requirement for running for office, television stations would go broke, ad agencies would be out on the street begging, and the halls of government would echo with emptiness.  Have you ever seen such distortion and downright storytelling in your life?  And I write fiction for a living! 

Of course, if I were a woman in the 18th century, I wouldn’t have to worry my pretty little head about who was running for office because I couldn’t vote.  But I betcha if women had any interest in an election, they’d sure find a way to learn about the candidates and put a flea in the ear of their husbands and fathers and beaus.  Although human nature being what it is, I imagine there was still a lot of opinions formed around scandal mongering.  Can’t you just imagine one lady whispering to the other that Mr. Official was seen coming home in the wee hours in a snockered condition, and shouldn’t someone see that the handsome young Mr. Up and Coming got the post because his wife is such a gracious lady?

Personally, I like the opinion of a local columnist who suggested that voters must correctly answer three relevant civics and/or current events questions before they’d be allowed to vote.  I think we could eliminate half the voters simply by asking who the vice-president is.  By the time we got down to the truly informed voters, the result could be downright scary.

This is Election Day in the U.S.  I don’t want any U.S. voters reading wordwenches today unless you’ve voted!  Whether or not you have to take out your horse and buggy or drive your unserviced vehicle to the polling place, don’t forfeit the privilege people in other countries are dying to have—VOTE!  Preferably for candidates who favor campaign reform so we don’t have to hear any more of those attack ads.

Feel free to use this space to comment on any and all electioneering…free speech is still a constitutional right!

Comments

[Val Jones]

I have always maintained that there should be a quiz on current events and world issues before you vote. The score that you get (as a percentage) is how much your vote counts. Get a zero and vote and it doesn't count. And I'm at least half serious about this!

I voted early on Saturday in Apopka, Florida. But if the anger level in the gym this morning is an indication of what we'll see, it might be an interesting evening if the elections are fairly counted.

[Patricia Rice]

I was still online when your comment came in, Val, and you've aroused my curiosity. Our voting place was very disorganized but congenial. What's happening your way?

(And I might add this is my first Missouri election, and the lack of privacy is purty int'resting.)

[Cathy]

I voted first thing this morning. I have never missed voting in an election--any election--since I was 18 years old.

Now I may sit down with my decafe soy milk latte and read the wenches, evil editor and a host of other non-political sites.

[margaret]

I'm stopping by Word Wenches before heading to the polls. Not only as voter, but candidate for our State Legislature. (Virtually a volunteer position...)

In that capacity, I'll be standing outside the 3 polling places of our 3-town district, holding a sign with my name. Having endured many booksignings at Wal*Marts and in shopping malls, I can deal with the vast indifference my presence will inspire!

I have no expectation of winning, but receive much satisfaction from meeting voters and discussing issues of local importance.

And I'm so very relieved that the rain will hold off till tonight, after the polls close!

[Val Jones]

Just the normal "Florida Stuff". My congressman, Tom Feeney, is running against a man by the name of Clint Curtis, who claims that Feeney approached him in the 2004 election (I might mention here that Curtis is a software engineer - and so am I) about what it would take to "fix" an election with electronic voting machines. Feeney denies this and says that he only was doing research. Curtis says "not so" and has taken a lie detector test and apparently has passed. And so it goes.

As to the normal "Florida Stuff", remember 2000? The local paper did some research about this and if you'd like to have a discussion of the findings, pop me an email.

[Kalen Hughes]

I can't vote till after work (since I get to the office at 6:30am and the polls aren't open yet).

Let's just hope that it isn't like two years ago when I stood in line for 2+ hours . . .

[maryjoputney]

I was going to post a comment earlier, but figured I'd better vote first or I'd be in trouble with Pat. :)

I always vote mid-morning, when it's quiet, and I never miss an election, nor a privary. NEVER. I don't think I've ever seen my quiet little precinct so busy--certainly not for a non-presidential election. There were moms with young kids and old folks with walkers. In front of me was an extremely shaggy guy who looked like a biker down on his luck--a definite contrast to the general aura of neat preppiness.

Naturally I had a book with me. I glanced around, and the only other person waiting in line who was reading was the woman behind me, who was reading a magazine. We agreed that we were well-prepared. :)

Things were moderately well organized, though one of the six electronic machines had conked out. The main slowdown was in getting the plastic key cards required to activate the voting machines. The supply was low so they had to keep ferrying them from people who had just voted across the gym to people who were registering. It took about half an hour to get in and out.

On the way out, I saw the biker guy walking down the school driveway, clearly not heading to a car--and this in an area where you pretty much have to drive everywhere. I stopped and asked if he needed a ride anywhere. He was a bit surprise, but said he'd appreciate a ride to a hospital a mile or two away where he could catch a bus.

I was happy to drive him. It was only a couple of minutes out of my way, but would have taken him maybe an hour to walk, much of it uphill. Biker guy deserves major credit making what was clearly a significant effort to do his duty as a citizen.

When I dropped him off at the bus shelter by the hospital, we shook hands and agreed that everyone should VOTE. The people throughout history who have died for freedom and democracy deserve no less.

Mary Jo, firmly on her soapbox

PS: Margaret, best of luck in the election, and let me know if you win so I can send virtual champagne!

[Val Jones]

You rock, Mary Jo!

[Patricia Rice]

Yeah, Margaret, you go! I'm positive you'll be a far classier candidate than most of our elected officials.

And Mary Jo, I have to laugh! A guy is safe to pick up because he votes? But it does sound as if all was well and you did a good deed.

And yeah all Wenchlings who are smart enough to know the importance of voting! I think we all rock.

[susannac in alabama]

I voted on my way to work this morning. We're low-tech here in small town Alabama - it was paper ballots, and they had space for 24 people to work on their ballots at one time, so no congestion. Everyone was smiling and friendly. I was voter 55, and the polls had been open 2 hours.

Not so peaceful in my home state of Kentucky, at least in Louisville! Apparently a poll worker there tried to choke a voter. One hopes it was a personal beef outside politics.

Good luck, Margaret!

[RevMelinda]

I just made a huge comment on Loretta's last post and as Teresa Medeiros said the other day "I'm so sick of myself!"
However, I will say that I have voted. Our state is completely vote-by-mail (Oregon)and has been for several years. I do miss the cameraderie of the polling place, but the payoff for our state has been increased voter turnout. And there's no standing in line, and you can puzzle over the ballot as long as you want! (Coffee in hand)

[RevMelinda]

Oh Susan/Miranda, I'm so sorry! It was YOUR post I commented on, not Loretta's! Chalk it up to election day dementia.

[Patricia Rice]

Oh, I so envy the mail-in ballots! No more dragging out in the cold and fog and stumbling into freezing cold lines that go on for hours... So sensible.

Susannac, I'm from KY too! I haven't checked the news today so haven't heard about the choking incident. Admittedly, emotions are high in lots of places. So much rides on this election!

RevMel, please chat as much as you like. This is where we all get to be full of ourselves. "G"

[shscott21]

I always like election day, and voting. We vote in a little school two blocks from my house, and to say that it's a cosy enviornment is probably an understatement. Everyone knows everyone else in line, and it's very much a catching-up-with-your-neighbors experience, with plenty of dogs, children, and left-over Halloween candy.

And, of course, for this one day, you can believe that things in Washington will change gloriously for the better! *g*

[Jo Beverley]

Of course I can't vote, but that doesn't say I don't have interest in the outcome, so thank you all for using your vote. And Mary Jo, that was great of you. There are some dangerous people around who look scruffy, but the truly bad ones, the ones who plan evil, mostly maek effort to look respectable and harmless.

Democracy isn't a perfect form of government, but I don't think humanity has found a better, and it relies on people informing themselves and then using their vote.

Jo :)

[Edith]

I voted! of course, I voted, and I would have done so early and often, but they only let me pull the lever once.
btw - I love lever voting machines. That final ka-klunk sound when you pull back the curtain.
It's so solid!

I'm way too paranoid for the new fangled computer machines.

best,
Edith - ka-klunk!

[Nina P]

On election day I am always overcome by the number of lives it took to earn my right to vote. Voting is a sacred thing to me.

Today my hubby and I packed up our daughter and seeing eye dog in training and headed to a little church up the road. Not far from there is the site of the last known witch burning which happened in the 1920s. Such bigotry seems so contrary to today’s freedom. Though I must confess, I would not have picked up MJ’s ‘biker guy.’ Way to go MJ!

Sad to say, there were no lines to wade through. No people to see. Brian and I walked right up to the table, signed our names and were handed one of those plastic cards. This is the first time we’ve had such new-fangled technology in our little precinct, leaving us both a little unsure. But, a few electronic touches later and the work was done. I miss the old voting machinces and the swish of the curtain when the lever was pulled.

Nina, reminded that there are many who are not free from the sting of bigotry.

[maryjoputney]

The biker guy was pretty shaggy, but he didn't seem dangerous--just less priveleged than most of the other people in the gym. I'd exchanged a few words with him since he'd been in front of me in the line, and he seemed like a thoughtful citizen==one who'd made a great effort to vote. I was glad to make his day a little simpler.

Edith, I also liked the KERTHUNK!!! of the old voting machines. The electronic machines are way too quiet. But here in Maryland, they do have shielded sides so no one can see what part of the screen you're touching, and the layout was very clear and easy to use, which the chance to check at the end that you didn't make any mistakes. It's the code inside that worries me...

Since I was in a waiting-in-line mode already and had a good, light paperback to read, I went in for a flu shot later in the day. These things are easier when one is prepared. :)

Mary Jo

[Sherrie Holmes]

From Sherrie:

We vote by mail in our area now. I have to say that while I appreciate the convenience, I miss the sense of community I used to get from going to the local grange hall where I'd run into all the neighbors.

For years a bunch of little old ladies ran the affair. It was such a kick to see them being so important and official with their big voter registration books and their plates of homemade cookies for the voters.

Mary Jo, I honor you for going with your instincts and giving a lift to biker dude. I understand how you could do that. Leaving a polling place after voting, I always feel so good about myself and the world, and the privilege of voting. One feels vital and magnanimous. It seems natural that those feelings would overflow into an act of kindness to a fellow voter. I'm sure your thoughtfulness was as much appreciated by him as by me. Having myself been the recipient of kindness by strangers, I know how profound a simple act like that can be for both the recipient and the giver.

[LorettaChase]

Sherrie, I feel the same way after voting--as though I did a good thing, and very grateful for the privilege. My parents (both immigrants) used to take us to the polling place with them, a short walk down the street in a turn of the century "community house" in the park. Mum was fierce about our exercising our right to vote. We had to register the instant we came of age. In the old days, when we used to get paper tickets back, we had to show them to Mum to prove we voted. We still have paper ballots here. For a while they used a machine that clipped holes but then there was that Florida thing...so now we use a black pen and fill in the balloons--like the tests in high school. Usually I go early in the morning with dh, but he went way too early today, so I hit the afternoon crowd and was amazed to find lines, which hardly ever happens. He told me there were lines even at 7:30AM. Our area of the city is noted for having the highest voter turnout. And we, too, have a decidedly senior population manning-or do I mean womaning--the polling place.

[Susan Wilbanks]

I voted by mail last week. I love the convenience, but it does take something of the romance and drama out of the process!

"btw - I love lever voting machines. That final ka-klunk sound when you pull back the curtain."

When I was little, my mom used to take me into the voting booth with her and let me pull the levers. I felt so important! I got to vote on the lever machines in '92, '94, and '96 when I was living in Philly, but since then it's been standardized-test style filling in bubbles.

Now it's just a matter of waiting for results. If I could I'd hole up somewhere with no access to news and have someone call me when we know who'll control Congress, but instead I know the geek to whom I am married will be giving me a play-by-play as individual races are called!

[Jaclyne Laurin]

Like Jo I have no vote in today's elections. I do feel the need to stress the importance of voting though. You CANNOT grumble, disparage or complain about your elected officials if you decided to stay home, go to work or school without first stopping at the polling station in your area.

You don't vote, don't come crying when a political decision is taken that goes against what you believe in. The guy that took the decision was put in office by the people that actually showed up to vote. If you're not happy with your representative, do something about it... VOTE!

[margaret]

I won.
So thanks, Wenches, for the good wishes.

[Sherrie Holmes]

YAAAAYYYYY MARGARET!!!!! Our first Wenchling in office!

[Cathy]

Congratulations, Margaret!

Voting does feel like going to church...a duty and a privilege.

[Nina P]

Congrats Margaret! Way to go!

--the littlest wenchling wondering which office our Margaret now holds

[Susan Wilbanks]

Congratulations, Margaret!

Man, the Senate is a nailbiter. I can't look away from CNN.

[Patricia Rice]

Whoopeeeeeeee, Madame Representative! If I could post virtual champage in here, I would. Margaret rules!!!!

And man, this whole election was a nailbiter. I'm still amazed at how our system works, but at least this time, one of my candidates won. "G"

[maryjoputney]

YAAAAY, MARGARET! And congratulations to the voters of your district for having the sense to recognize your qualifications.

Mary Jo, applauding madly

[Edith]

Margaret!
We is so proud of you!
Now, to alert ever middlesex village (no jests) and town!
YES!
best,
Edith, off to alert