Rant: Election Day

Yesterday was Election Day. It's one of those emotionally charged days, where political theory and "what if" meets the reality of an electorate that doesn't always mesh with your personal views. It's a win-some, lose-some proposition, at best.

Voting is vital to a democracy, and I really do believe that if you don't vote, you can't gripe about the outcome. That being said, I don't want to gripe about the outcome of some of those idiotic measures that showed up on my ballot, or the idiots that don't agree with me. I want to gripe about a few other things.

First, the media. I live in a small state on the West Coast, which means that the election results for Presidential elections are called long before the polls actually close in my home state. And as irritating as I find that to be, it really yanks my chain when our local races are called before a majority of the ballots have been counted simply because a computer model predicts the outcome based on 17% of ballots returned in one metropolitan area. I completely understand why people living in other regions of the state feel disenfranchised.

Second, campaign advertising. In Oregon we vote by mail. My ballot was completed, signed and mailed two weeks ago. I understand that not everyone does this, and that the goal of the extremely absurd amount of commercials are geared toward those people who haven't made up their own minds or who are waiting to see how the wind blows. I've become used to watching tv with the remote and mute button handy, and stopped listening to the radio on my way to work. But how many trees do you have to kill to keep stuffing my mailbox full of crap that, literally, makes it as far as the recycle bin? And stop calling me. If I don't recognize your number, I don't answer the phone. Does anyone?

And one more thing, pulling in "experts" from out of state to persuade people that their opinions are wrong doesn't really work. It just pisses people off.

And the powers that be wonder why we're disillusioned with government and the entire electoral process.