Yesterday was another mid-term election day ’round these parts, so I got out there, did my civic duty, and voted. But I don’t think I could have been less prepared when I looked at the ballot.
We were voting for Supreme Court justices, local School Board members, County Executive, and then the recall ballots for some of our Republican Senators were out too if you were so inclined (if you’ve been following along from the beginning here, you can probably guess whether or not i signed that one ;)). Most of the races only had one candidate, so those were easy; but I kind of felt like a deer in headlights when I got to the ones with multiple choices. I had been meaning all day yesterday to look up each of the candidates to do a little research before I went to the polling place, but I kept forgetting then ran out of time before I left work. Oops.
I have already admitted that I am pretty politically obtuse, so this really should come as no surprise. But usually I at least know all the candidates’ names and have an idea of what their platforms are. This time, though, I felt like a complete idiot.
I wasn’t too keen on voting in the first place, because I figured Supreme Court and County Executive? Those aren’t huge elections – my vote probably won’t even matter. Isn’t that horrible? People have fought long and hard to ensure we have this right to vote and here I am tossing it aside. Don’t worry – I chastised myself and then did cast my ballot.
So, if I didn’t know for whom I was voting, how did I decide? I went with that good ol’ rule from tests in school – go with your gut, as your first answer is usually correct.
Fortunately I did end up recognizing a couple of the names on the ballot once I got in there, but I still felt so stupid since I wasn’t 100% sure on anyone. I stuck with my instinct though when I got to ones where I was unsure, and it turns out that was the way to go. I did end up voting for the candidates I would have chosen had I been the most highly-educated political pundit out there. (admitting my lack of political knowledge here really makes me sound like a moron, but like i’ve said all along, i’m just being honest. i just don’t get all charged up for this stuff)
My polling place dilemma made me wonder, though… Which is worse – an uneducated voter or a non-voter?
**Edit: As a follow-up on the day after this post – it looks like my vote did count after all. In the race for state Supreme Court, with 100% of votes in, the race will most likely be headed to the first statewide recount in more than 20 years. The unofficial winner leads by a margin of just 204 votes out of a total of roughly 1.5 million cast. That’s only 1/100th of a percent. Crazy!