Election stuff
03-Nov-04
I spent 16 hours at the polls yesterday. We had phenomenal turnout: 422 voters in a precinct of ~800 (and a lot of absentees), and 100% ballot reconciliation (our # of ballots matched our # of voters on the roster). Most precincts end up with 1 or 2 ballots off in the reconciliation.
I helped voters who had voted in every election for the last 50 years. I helped voters who couldn’t walk or see well. I helped voters who had never voted before, ever. I helped new voters. I registered new voters, and gave people provisional ballots to vote even if they were unregistered. One of my precinct board members is a fluent Spanish speaker– she was indispensible in helping our high Hispanic population, many of whom were also first-time voters, vote. There’s a 10 minute time limit in the booth, but I never enforced it. We challenged nobody, and had nobody request a challenge (here, you have to be a member of the precinct board to make a challenge). We had a large number of “assisted” voters (anyone needing another person to help them vote, either because of physical disability or language reasons, or any reason at all). I helped an 84 year old man vote provisionally because he had forgotten to re-register when he moved 6 years ago. I think I made only one mistake, which was not accepting a mail-in ballot someone tried to turn in for a friend at 8:05 (after the polls close). In retrospect, I probably should have taken it, stuffed it into a provisional envelope, and sent them home. I am full of pride in the election process in my county, and especially of my precinct board members, all of whom were phenomenal.
I am exhausted. I have not had a full night’s sleep since Friday night. I am sore all over, too.
California is as close to Not-US as I can reasonably get, to be honest, and I’m thinking of leaving. We just voted to have a DNA database for people arrested (wrongly or not) for felony offenses. Yep. Attend a protest, become part of the felon DNA database. It’s only a matter of time before it’s required for getting a driver’s license (we require fingerprinting, even though that was never voted on, either). On the other hand, Oakland voted in favor of giving the cops more money, as long as they don’t spend it busting pot users.
Missouri went to Bush, but my whole family voted for Kerry, including my sister’s husband. This was his first time voting, ever, and he would not have voted if not for Farenheit 9/11. Go, Michael Moore!
My family friend Carol, who lives near my mom in MO, probably did not vote, and probably not her son, either (though Chris may have had an absentee ballot, since he’s at school). Carol had a heart attack 10 days ago and had open heart surgery on Wednesday last week. I haven’t heard how she’s doing since then; she should be home soon, though, if she’s not already.
I wrote 1500 words in my new NaNo novel on Monday. I started with the “Kail” character’s point of view. I then switched to the “Seph” point of view, a pachycephalosaurus who keeps meeting females who want men who are jerks (sound familiar, Dan?) I think Seph’s PoV is too “human,” and have started worrying that I’ve embarked on a novel that I can’t actually write.
I’m going on a writing retreat this weekend. I will decide then if I want to keep writing this novel or switch to something completely different. Problem is, I have only one idea for another novel, and it’s completely outside my comfort genre.
I scored an 83 on the Canadian Skilled Worker Visa pre-test (67 is a passing score, means you have a good chance of getting a visa). Toronto has better weather than Chicago and New York. Still cold in winter, but I don’t know. Maybe it would work. For 4 years anyway? With a drop-ship center in the U.S. for John’s business?