I Just Want The Sticker

Election Day came around a few days ago, and perhaps it remains a subject of some interest today. I was thinking about my personal history of voting, which goes back to 2002. As of the historic and controversial election of November 2000, I was some three months too young to vote. In truth, I had yet at that point to develop any severe interested in politics or self-determination. The dramatic events which unfolded in that season were exciting, but had no more bearing on the future in my mind than did a hit TV show. I soon learned to be sorry I had been unable to have my say, and anticipated most eagerly my first opportunity to do so, which was to come two years later. At long last the day came, and I marched off to the polling place with the Arizona Republic's list of endorsements in hand. I followed them more closely than I now wish I had.

In the years since, I have managed to vote in every single election I was aware of except one. It may make me sound spacey to say that I haven't been aware of every single election, but you'd be surprised how many little ones of a single issue slip under the radar with no promotion or analysis whatsoever. Today I use a mail ballot exclusively, as I never am sure whether I will find myself engaged in some activity that doesn't permit me to reach my polling place during its operating hours, but find that I often must go to the polling place anyway after having procrastinated on mailing in my ballot. I missed one major election owing to being away from home and having neglected to take care of my mail ballot. It remains a sore subject with me.

When I lived in Arizona, I always had to go to the polls in person. There's a certain pleasure in it. The polling places are invariably staffed by retirees and other bored, career-lacking persons. Perhaps this accounts for technical glitches that make trouble most years. I've looked into doing it. One must be there at an obscenely early hour, and remain until well after the polls close. The tangible reward is too slight for my liking, and I fear that the reward of serving my country would grown increasingly insufficient as the day went on. Maybe it's better that we have the people who are there now. I've found them to be friendly and earnest, and the whole experience of being there is kind of fun. That's a good thing, because for whatever reason, Los Angeles has more elections than I ever imagined a city could. I'm used to a primary and a general election every other years, barring those stealth elections I've referenced. Here, there seem to be several major ones every year, and so I may well have voted more times since moving here than before.

I've learned to be content with elections that never go my way. Being of my persuasion in Arizona has that effect on someone, and I get my way not nearly as much of the time here as I would have thought. My level of excitement is less now as well. The night of the election, I had news coverage on, but paid it little attention. In previous years, I have been at that time desperate for indications of final results. This year, I had about the same attitude as I do about entertainment awards shows: they print the winners in the paper the next day, so why sit through hours of TV for the same answers I can absorb at breakfast in two minutes? I'm not an apathetic or disillusioned voter in the least, so I guess I'm not entirely sure of what I am. I am enthusiastic about the process of voting, but am less so about the campaigning and the governing. It's too bad those take up most of the time.