#344 - TLG's Election Day Adventure

I've pretty much voted in every election I've been eligible for, including ones by absentee ballot long ago, and the ones where I was required to mail in my ballot because my precinct was too small to have it's own polling place. But today I was proud to go to our new polling place and I did something I've never done before: I took the little guy to the polling place with me. Now, this doesn't seem like a big deal, maybe, to many parents who take their kids everywhere. But the people at our polling place made it special for him, including letting him have his very own "I Voted" sticker when we were done at the electronic voting machine. I doubt he'll ever remember this small new thing, but when he's grown up he can tell his own children that his mommy took him with her to vote for President Obama.

On a side note, I watched Obama's speech this evening with a great mixture of pride and relief - I do hope that he will keep his word on some of his campaign promises including health care, the war in Iraq, and fixing this economy that's so broken. Yay!

#284 - Where the Heck Is My Polling Place, Anyway?

The Nevada primary election was held today in Washoe County, and on my lunch break I ran home to get my ballot that arrived in the mail. I have voted before, of course, but since moving into this house we've lived in a mail-in only precinct. So today I had to call the county voters office to get directions to my new precinct, which was listed at a community center I'd never heard of (but was presumably near my house). The woman who answered the phone was very helpful and gave me specific instructions from the closest large intersection to my house and told me to call back if I got lost! It was right where she said it would be - not far from here, but in a mostly uninhabited part of the city where I'd never been before. (There was also a nice looking park at the community center, so we may have to go back and check that out sometime soon.) Anyway, I got to vote on the new electronic machines and it didn't take all that long to complete. I was a little weirded out that I was the only voter there in all that time, and I know there were more precincts than just mine meeting there. Poor voter turnout is a sad part of our civic pride, but a big reality.

#158 - My Civil Rights

This morning, I was approached outside the grocery store and asked to sign a petition. I've certainly signed before, most often at the University for some issue or another. But today, I signed a petition to help get an issue put on the November ballot! The woman explained that they're trying to re-direct the money from the room taxes towards other things than what it's currently going towards - one of the new things being having a portion of that money go towards education. As I believe education in our county could use as much help as we can afford, I thought that was a good idea.

#110 - Making Political History

This morning, I attended the first-ever Nevada caucus. (This photo is me with my precinct's manager.) It was an interesting process, held instead of a primary election, and I had done some homework on how the Democrat and Republican processes were different for their events today. The Democratic caucus was supposed to involve a bunch of crazy math to elect a certain number of delegates from my precinct to attend the county convention in February... but it turns out that my precinct is so small (only 40 registered voters!) that we were strictly a winner-takes-all precinct with one delegate to elect. But I was proud of our small-but-mighty precinct, with 22 of 40 people showing up today! I was happy to hear that the candidate I went to support - Obama, in case you haven't read this blog in a few days - won my precinct, and in fact won my county with slightly over 50% of the Democratic support, even though he didn't ultimately win the state.

This photo is some of the giant mob of people at my caucus location, a high school near my house. I did see one couple I knew (the wife works at my organization) but otherwise it was a sea of strangers everywhere. There was something like 19 different precincts all at the same location, so it was extra-full of people.

#100 - On a Soapbox

My hubby and his parents tease me about when I'm going to run for mayor because of my involvement in community issues. I've never really been one to take an active interest in politics - I usually have more of a critical, what-have-they-done-now view. But I am registered to vote and I always participate, even in the primaries. A few days ago, I took an online quiz that matched my opinions with the current candidates running for President. With the Nevada primaries only 11 days away, I was interested in the candidate who supposedly matched my views the closest. The answer: Barack Obama. So tonight, though I've never been this interested in the presidential race before, I visited Obama's website to see for myself. (In the past, I usually relied on my local newspaper and my own gut reaction to help me choose.) After looking through many of the issues I'm opinionated on (in?) I'd have to say I'd consider voting for him... his views on Iraq, immigration, education, and health care all mirror my own. I've been wholly unsatisfied with the current politics on these issues, so it would be a relief to have some change in sight.