I'm just incredibly excited by it. In some ways this makes me feel democracy so much more than just voting. It is very tangible to see people vote over and over and to go over the roster to make sure the signatures tally with the voted ballots. Our county is also the only to have their electronic voting machines (with paper trail and new procedures) to be certified. I got to see (and do) all the procedures (and my reward is getting up at fripping 5:30am only to get home around 9pm). But I made us stick to the book because the rules are there for a reason (for instance, always having two poll workers around any ballots or things that count them, even after they are all packed up and resealed with temper-evident seals). Having a dilettante's knowledge of voting machine and procedure issues, and now a first-hand experience with how it works here, I am pleased and have no real issue with the "scary" electronic voting machines. (These ones at least.)

And throughout the day (we only had 44 voters if you count regular voters from rosters, a couple provisionals and someone dropping of a vote-by-mail ballot but it was not surprising as it was only city issues), we got to meet some fun people or see some fun events. Here are the two most amusing vignettes (to me).

"I think it was when Carter was running against Ford..." Jill McGill was telling the story about how important it is to vote for oneself. Her beloved husband (her words), a judge, had always insisted that she vote -- but during the contentious race between Carter and Ford, her husband clearly wanted her to vote for Carter. As they were driving to the polls, he asked her who she was voting for. She wasn't too sure about Carter and told him so. He was aghast that she would vote for Ford and pulled the car right over to convince her otherwise. He pointed out that if she voted for Ford, it would just cancel his vote out. She just told him she'd think about it, but would give him no more than that. She ended up voting for Ford and, despite her husband's jovial ragging every year (a family tradition), she never told him how she voted. It's a secret ballot and it was her ballot to vote as she pleased.

A young father, who had had the help of his young son (maybe three or four years old) in voting on the new machines, asked for extra "I voted!" stickers. He put one on his son (we'll let it slide) and said "Pedro voted!". Then he put his own on and said "Dad voted!". Then he picked his son up, put him on his hip, looked down at him, smiled and said "Democracy wins!" The boy gave a little cheer and smiled.

That is all. I'm pretty tired despite the enthusiasm. But let me never be so cynical about "democracy" and representative government as I sometimes have been. It doesn't do any good regardless -- excess cynicism means even if one is wrong about how "bad" it is, means there is no chance of betterment. So, democracy? Democracy wins.

Names changed obviously