Working voting sites on voting day is exhausting.
I spent Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to noon at the Tuttle Park Recreation Center on Oakland, talking to voters.
At 7:30 there was a long line, but around eight, the place was completely dead. There was no one except the OSU Votes representative from California, an Obama front-liner from New Jersey and two other Obama canvassers. But voters slowly trickled in. One first-time voter could hardly contain his excitement that he had indeed voted for president, and his vote had gone for Mickey Mouse.
Then we got the message, around 10:30, that three counties north, electronic voting machines were recording votes for Obama as votes for Nader on the machine print-outs. Voters were urged to check their results.
The OSU Votes representatives got other texts from the Board of Elections following the electronic voting issue, some even more profound than one that cautioned us to “beware of fat fingers.”
I learned the hard way that laughing out loud at something like that will get you angry stares from every canvasser within a 50-foot radius.
The drop-dead serious attitude of campaign season is sickening. I am aware of the issues riding on this election; the possible impact on our economy, global warming, taxes and the like, but I do not see red when it comes time to decide whom to vote for. I recognize the long-term ramifications of decisions like these, but there is Congress, the Supreme Court and our state governments that have a say in what happens too.
Voting is a privilege, something Americans living in a competitive Democracy get to take part in. Sure, it is easy to end up all voted out, but there are some great candidates this year beyond the presidential race, and some crucial changes could be made in our city council this year. Even my friend, an post office carrier who works 58 hours a week, found time to come in and vote.
“I don’t really care about what happens,” he said, “but it is my civic duty, really.”
