Vote early ... and often

I have been a voter since the day I legally could register to do so. Even when the choices were slim, I would vote for whomever I felt would do the least damage. (Sadly, sometimes that IS the only way to chose a candidate.) I'm a HUGE believer in being a part, no matter how small, in the process, no matter how broken. Ya' don't earn the right to bitch if you didn't use your right to vote.

So when my ballot appeared in the mail not that long ago, I noticed right away that there were no listings in the "President of the United States" area. I did my homework, and found that since I'd registered as "none of your dang business", the ballot would not allow me to vote for whomever I'd want to lead my country. Which, when I considered the 240 hours of volunteer clean-up work I'd done in the past two years under the current administration, felt like a big ol "thanks for nuttin'" kind of a thing to do.

So I found the appropriate instructions to get a ballot that WOULD allow me to vote for "da Prez", and waited. Sure 'nuf, in about two weeks, here's my new and improved ballot - which includes the names of folks that have since dropped out. (NOT the fault of the printers, folks lagging way behind often *do* drop out. It's my job, as in informed voter, to keep up on these things.)

Anyway so things were all taken care of, yes? Well on Tuesday, I went to my office and had a message from the local voter registration folks asking for me to contact them - which I did. "So we wanted to make sure you got the ballot you requested. Did you?" I assured them that I had. They asked what I did with the previous ballot.

Since I had NO intention of using it, I used it to test the blades of some knives I'd just had rehoned and sharpened. And, since I know that not everyone on the planet would actually buy this as an answer (even 'tho it was the truth), I just said that I had shreadded it. (Truth be told, I did shread it. The ballot is a heavier weight paper and it worked GREAT to test my knives.) "What's that you say? You never got it?" said the voice on the other end of the phone.

"No", I said. "I shreadded it. Myself. Tore it all up and tossed it away." "Strange that you didn't receive the first one", said the woman - which is when it dawned on me that she wanted me to play with her. "Right - yeah, I thought so too but nope, just never got one. I have this one now, 'tho so we're all good."

And I thought we were.

Friday, as I was working from home, the mail arrived. And with it, another ballot. This one also includes the options for President. Unfortunately, a quick scan showed all the same names. (I was hoping perhaps that someone new had shown up and that they'd be "the obvious choice".)

Anyway, I guess I just never realized how much my city has in common with Chicago.