Civic Duty

Susan and I did our civic duty yesterday and voted. We had heard of long lines in many areas, with waits up to six hours. But at our polling location, we didn’t have any wait at all. We arrived around 4:00 p.m., parked in one of the handful of empty spaces, filled out our paperwork, showed our identification, and voted using the newfangled electronic voting machines (yes the controversial Diebold machines). It only took us a few minutes to choose our candidates, review the local referendums, review our choices, and commit our votes.

As I write this, the results still aren’t firm, and all eyes are on Ohio. I just hope that we don’t see the bitter feuding this time like we saw over Florida in the last presidential election.

What’s that? How did I vote? Unlike many of my web development compatriots, I lean toward the conservative, and I voted for Bush. Really, I’m more of a centrist, with conservative leanings (though there are a few issues where I lean more to the left). I don’t agree with everything that the Bush administration has done, but there are things about Kerry that I just don’t like.

And in the local political arena, I voted “yes” for Sunday alcohol sales in Cherokee County. That referendum passed handily. Yay!

Update: Kerry concedes defeat. Well, despite my reservations about Kerry, I have to commend him for not stirring the pot unnecessarily, and for his comments about wanting to do something to close the political rift that’s been dividing our country. Amen to that, brother.

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