JayFublerHarvey.com

Mid-year elections are usually pretty dull by most American’s standards. If it doesn’t include presidential possibilities or a scandal-ridden campaign, most of us don’t have the time to really care. More important to relax on our couch and watch a re-run of That’s 70’s Show. (Tangent Note: Laura Prepon looked better as a redhead)

It’s really a damn shame. If the average person only realized how much voteable local issues really effect their day-to-day lives. Guess you have to be closer to medicare than pedialyte in order to truly appreciate what’s right in front of you.

Enter today: the first time all the counties in Ohio have used a non-punchhole voting system. Some used electronic voting machines (Sieg Diebold!); my county used an optical scan system. You know the kind…fill out an oval as fully as possible…feed it into a machine…a laser records the results. (Yes, the same shiz you used in school…)

First and foremost, they STILL don’t ask you for any ID!!! Any yahoo who knows how to forge your signature can go in and vote for you. When will these idiots tighten this system up? Let fraud thrive!

When it came to the optical scan, the poll workers seemed a little intimidated by the new system. Even tho I was the 21st person to vote, they still moved in a very slow, overly deliberate manner to “not screw anything up”. I threw them for a loop when I told them I was an independent: “Carol, what are we supposed to do for independents?”. :)

After receiving the very first independent ballot of the day (I’ll leave the many choices between the worse of two pissants for November), I went over to a non-covered ballot area. Anyone who wanted to see whom or what I was voting for could easily peak their head in the right direction. Summit County…we need those curtains back!!!

BTW, these optical ballots are HUGE. Larger than a regular sheet of paper. This requires the covering envelope to be even larger. Both of which made it more than awkward to handle…especially when the poll taker tried to make sure none of the votes were visible.

However, there was a big plus: I could insert my own ballot! In the past, the poll workers would put the ballot in the box for you. (They’d let you do it yourself if you asked, but they’d get a bit of an attitude.) This time, you got to insert the ballot into the optical scanning machine yourself…and actually got to see that your ballot was processed. Very nice! (Would be even better if you got a receipt…something to work on…)

Overall, a step in the right direction. But many items need to be worked on…hopefully before 2008.

Side Note: Is there anyway to include political groups on the national no-call list? I received no less than 7 politicial calls each day over the past week…some of which weren’t even in my damn district! Massively trifling!

(Repeat Tangent Note: Laura Prepon looked better as a redhead)