My ballot is in. Chalk one up for Obama! My voting experience was likely very differnt from yours.
I live in Oregon, which is a vote by mail only state. I've only 18 since '02, so I've never been into a polling booth in my life.
I left right after work on Friday for a weekend at Mt. Hood, and didn't get back until Sunday. When I opened up the mailbox, our ballots were there waiting. Sunday night, we filled them out.
While my wife and I talk about issues a lot, we always vote with only one of us in a room. While we talk about our votes afterward, and more often than not vote the same, we believe that the act of voting should be private, and that even spouses shouldn't be in the room until the envelope is sealed.
My wife filled out her ballot, then it was my turn. I headed over to the computer, so that I could do research on some things if needed (you can't do that in the polling booth, can you?). First item--President. Hmmmmm. Nader. No. Some Green Party guy. No. McCain. Hell no. Barr. Nope. Ah, Obama. Last on the ballot, but first in our hearts. I filled in my arrow (paper trail, baby). I looked at my son and smiled. I'm doing this for you, Luke.
Onto the Senate. Here's a vote for Jeff Merkley. Gordon Smith's got to go. And for congress, we have an open seat here in OR-05 as Hooley is retiring. Chalk one up for Kurt Schrader.
Then I got to local races. I knew I was voting straight Democratic this year, but I took it to the next level. For example, on my ward of county commission, a Republican was running unopposed. I wrote in my wife's name. I will not vote Republican under any circumstances. I could have left it blank, but now it will forever go in the record as a vote against the R. It might just be only heard by me, but the message is clear: if you subscribe to a party full of hate, I will vote against you. Period.
This is where the research really came in handy, though. One of the offices up for vote was County Clerk. This is the guy who runs elections for the county, among other things. I didn't know the difference between the incumbent and the challenger, other than that the local paper endorsed the challenger because a couple of marriage licenses took a bit longer than they'd have liked to process. Its a non-partisan office.
Well, a bit of research showed that the challenger is an ethically challenged Republican. Do I want an ethically challenged Republican in charge of my county elections? HELL NO. That's bad news, judging from national trends.
Then we had the ballot measures, of which there is a ton in Oregon. I voted for the legislative refferals, all of which are needed changes. The citizens initiatives, almost all sponsored by Bill Sizemore, the anti-tax, anti-public employee, anti-everything government jackass who abuses the initiative system, were all given a no vote.
I sealed my envolope and signed the back. I don't always trust the postal service so, after work today, I stopped at City Hall and put my ballot in the drop box. No line. No arguing with a registration official. Nobody trying to intimidate me. It was quick and easy.
Vote by mail is great, you should try it sometime.
My vote is in. Its a long and anguishing wait until Nov. 4.