Only Sometimes Clever

I applied online for a mail-in ballot, but I guess with the birth of Fiala and all, I didn’t get the thing filled out early enough to actually mail it in.  I know that you can leave things blank if you’re unsure about the candidates for the school board, or which superior court judge should stay and which should leave, or which proposition should get my yes vote.  But, I’m the kind who likes to vote for everything.  And, if I’m going to vote for it, I need to be educated about it.  And, in order to be educated, I need to read all I can that’s been published in print and online, both from neutral parties and those biased.  All of that takes time, which I haven’t had in spades, lately.

Thankfully, here in Arizona, once the “mail-in” ballot is completed, it can be turned in to any polling place.

My hubby and I completed our ballots last night, after the kids were in bed.  It took about 90 minutes.  I first went through the gigantic, two-sided thing and marked everyone/everything of whom/which I was well-informed (or highly-opinionated, one or the other).  Then, I pulled out all my election booklets and read through the appropriate sections for the people or issues of which I was unsure.  Then, I went online and did some more reading — interviews with candidates, organizations that gave their opinions, etc.

I filled everything out.

Could YOU vote for him?? Plus, he said, "I have three children... Both went on to college..." He's either confused about his children, or about his grammar, neither of which is good for a governing school board member

The only thing that was an under-vote was for our local school board.  There were five candidates, of whom I could vote for three.  One guy, I knew for certain I was going to vote for.  Looking into the other four, of one woman I thought, “OK, she sounds like she’d do a good job, even though she has no experience and is trying to make the leap from stay-at-home mother to elected position overnight…”  The other guys…  Umm…  No.  One of them even said that home schooling was a “major challenge” that faced the public school system, listing it as a problem area that needed to be “addressed.”  Hm.  The other two guys, well, one of them was opposed to standardized testing and measurements in general, which… well, I think it’s important that one actually learns something before one is handed a diploma.  The other guy (and this was my most scientific evaluation) simply looked like a jerk.  I mean, I saw several photos of him, and he looks like a …  well, a jerk.  I couldn’t vote for him.  So, five candidates, three positions, and I voted for two.

Anyways.  With the mail-in ballot came a sticker that says “I Voted Early.”

At about 6:30 a.m. this morning, my husband took both our ballots to our polling place, not knowing for certain if he could turn in my ballot too, but we thought it was worth a try.  It worked.  He said, “There were a couple of hundred people there already, and I just walked right by them and turned in our ballots.”  After he did so, the election official gave him two stickers of “I Voted Today,” one for each of us.

So, now, I have two stickers.

I’m thinking about wearing them both, just to mess with people.