Normally, I love election days. Not this one, though.
I'm still not positive about what I'll do when I head out to the polls in half an hour. So giving in to my pathological love of list-making, here are my options as a registered Michigan Democrat on this very snowy election day:
1.) In a perfect world, I'd vote for John Edwards today. Clearly, this is not a perfect world -- the only actual candidates on the MI Dem ballot are Hillary and Dennis.
2.) I can "vote" for Uncomitted on the Dem ballot. Will this help Edwards? Will it piss off the Michigan Democratic Party and Governor Granholm? Do I really care? (Write-ins, through a quirk of MI election law, will be considered spoiled ballots and tossed out).
3.) I can cross over and vote in the Republican primary. This could be for a good reason (McCain may actually do something about torture and the disgraceful state of veterans' health care), a snarky reason (Kossacks for Mitt!) or a strategic reason (enough Ron Paul votes and they may start a third party to siphon off GOP votes).
Whatever I do, my choice of ballot will be recorded and that information will be given to the state Democratic and Republican parties. Taxpayers will not have access to this data, even though they paid for it.
Assuming I get a Democratic ballot & vote Uncommitted -- and assuming that Uncommitted gets at least 15% of the vote -- there's no guarantee that the delegates will be fairly apportioned between Edwards and Obama supporters. Who gets to decide what an Uncommitted vote represents?
Assuming I cross over & get a GOP ballot, my choice will be recorded and I'll get an endless stream of robocalls, mailings, solicitations, etc. On the one hand, this is an excellent way to make the GOP waste their money. On the other, my recycling guy only comes every other week...
Oh, and if I cross over this time I may be ineligible to vote in the county convention to support Edwards.
And you wonder why I'm cranky...