Elections

Well, I finally got my absentee ballot from Ohio. I thought I’d never get it, because it took about 3 weeks, and the Board of Elections phones were always busy.

Immediately on the ballot, there were two big bummers. While the Green Party presidential pair Nader / Camejo actually made it on the ballot in Ohio, there was an official note in the package saying that the votes for the Green Party candidates will not be counted, because of some irregularities. I don’t really know if this is actually true, or a manipulation of the electoral process by people who do could not prevent Nader from running. But OK, I was gonna vote for Kerry anyway in this state. I just feel like Nader’s right to be voted for should not be infringed upon, whatever the cause. This is supposed to be a democracy after all. Let’s keep the pretense, at least for a while. There are actually two other candidates for president – a libertarian and an independent. There was no official note saying anything about the votes cast for them. Of course neither the libertarian nor the independent will get nearly as many votes as the Greens would have gotten, so they’re not a threat. Read more about the Nader issue here

The second bummer was one of the issues on the ballot. It was a proposed amendment to the Ohio constitution that would legally ban gay unions. It’s sad that the people in power in this country (at all levels) are trying to turn the wheel back, instead of forward. One would hope that the state that has the second biggest gay city in America, Columbus, would propose an amendment to legalize gay unions, rather than ban them. What is this world coming to. I hope this doesn’t pass. Read more about the gay issue here

Another thing about voting is that besides the big boys (presidential and senatorial candidates), I’m not really familiar with anybody else. I can only go on party affiliation and name recognition. And there’s very little information available about issues / candidates on the local level. For example the judges in the Ohio Supreme Court get elected, not appointed. But they’re not supposed to have a party affiliation, so then one must know their stance on issues, and there’s a lot of reading up to do. With all the hustle and bustle about telling people they should vote, once a person does decide to vote, he’s on his own.