What a beautiful day. There I was hopping along, singing a song on my short walk to the Lower Garden District’s Andrew Jackson Elementary International School of Louisiana to vote in the presidential primary. On getting there, I cheerfully greeted the usual gang of poll workers and handed over my identification only to be told, “The Ward 1 Precinct 2 voting machine is broken. You have to come back.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. One day out of the whole damned year and whomever is responsible for the machines can’t test them before putting them out there? How many other machines around the city are similarly incapacitated? More importantly, how many voters have not been able to perform their civic duty today because of this? This reminds me of the 2004 presidential election when the keys to unlock the voting machines weren’t delivered to various precincts, including mine. In a democracy, this disenfranchisement is unconscionable.
D always reminds me to attribute to incompetence what can be blamed on malice. Today, both of us are not so sure. The Democrats in this city are more inclined to vote for Barack Obama, so who would benefit from a dozen or so voting machines around New Orleans simply “not working?” Those who want Democrats’ votes to go to the weaker candidate, of course.
I’m going back and will wait there until the polls close if need be to cast my vote. The question is how many others who have been advised to come back will be there with me? Someone’s got some explaining to do.
Oh I think the incompetence explanation will do fine for me here. Besides, with no recent polling data, who is to say that the New Orleans vote isn’t as likely to go to a still-on-the-ballot John Edwards?
Mine almost did but instead I took a deep breath and voted for freaking Pepsi over Coke (or is that Coke over Pepsi? Who can tell the damn difference anyway?) under the theory that my vote might actually have some affect in stopping the awfuler of those two this time.
I walked into my normal precinct this evening only find that I’m not on the rolls for the Marigny. I’ve been voting there for six years.
Seems that somehow I was now voting as distrct 7. I never changed to the damaged house’s addy because there was no mail delivery and I didnt live there.
Somethings odd.