I hope everyone has already voted or plans to vote today. So many people take this for granted when it's not all that far into the past that women weren't allowed to vote. I've had CNN on the TV for weeks now - I don't remember being this wrapped up in a campaign for years. Thank goodness for quilting so I will still have something to do tomorrow.Washington state went totally to mail-in ballots a few years ago. I'm so glad they did this. No waiting in lines, as well as being able to take as much time as needed to vote as the ballots arrive a few weeks early. There are no polling places - just a couple precinct workers sitting beside a locked ballot box so people can drop off their ballots if they'd like to. Nevertheless, it's so exciting to see so many people all over the country waiting in line to vote - and to know so many are voting who never have before.
If you've not voted yet please do so - it's never been as important to do so as it is this year.
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Gratitudes:
1. The freedoms and rights we enjoy as Americans
2. The right to disagree with the government without danger
3. The amazingly peaceful way our country changes leaders
4. Television coverage of every minute of the race
If only they'd hold a war and nobody came.
7 comments:
I agree with all you said - except since last year it is "illegal" to speak, write or THINK thoughts against the president and the government. I don't know how that law got passed - but it did - oh wait - it was rammed through by unthinking, uncaring, unintelligent leader(s) who want to be a little dictator from a big state - well, that has GOT to change. And this is in the name of homeland security - and there is no security if someone can tell you what to write, think, say or blog - none indeed.
Be careful what you blog - BIG brother is watching you - and some have had their blogs taken down because of dissent about the ruling party. Not in America you say? Oh yeah, in America - so we need HOPE and we need CHANGE!!!!
It was so wonderful to actually have to wait behind four people at my polling place to pick up my ballot. Nearly all the little booths were filled with voters. No matter the outcome, this election seems to have garnered the interest of more voters than any in other in my 20 years as an eligible voter.
Yes, get out and vote! Here in Australia voting is compulsory and everyone does it. So our campaigns don't draw energy into getting people out to vote, instead they focus on the candidate. It's very efficient.
Best of all, academics have studied countries with compulsory voting and found that they have less income inequality -- so the poorest of the poor are better off in countries with compulsory voting. It's a great example of the power of the vote. If you have a say in government, you get a better deal. Maybe Australia's compulsory voting system is why we have funded health care for everyone, among other things.
Even from this distance I am finding this US election fascinating! Exhausting but fascinating.
I was at the polls at 6 am when they opened and there was a line in my little town of 12,000. You could feel the exitement as we all waited to vote.
I believe that if you are not part of the process, you are part of the problem. There are people all over the world who don't get this opportunity.
It is a great day that we can express ourselves at the polls and I love your closing statement!
Oh Patti - it was MAGIC!!!! We were glued to CNN all day - and cried with the amazingness of it all. What a beautiful opportunity the world has been given :-)
Not all of Washington has switched to absentee. I stubbornly continue to go to my polling place to vote in person. Well, I did until this election, when I had to vote absentee as I was on a plane early on the morning of the 4th (just got back, catching up on blogs)--and have now been switched to 'permanent absentee,' which I'm not happy about.
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