Rant #3,009: My Prerogative

I welcome myself back to the Ranting and Raving Blog after a very difficult day yesterday.

 
But here I am today, and I am ready to go—
 
And actually, I did go already …
 
To cast my vote.
 
I was at the polling place almost exactly at 6 a.m. in the morning, and I have to tell you, the place was hopping.
 
They must have just let everyone in who had been waiting for the 6 a.m. start time when I arrived there, and I had to wait on the line even to find out what table I had to go to in order to sign in.
 
As usual, as I got to my table, there was a problem, and it held up the line, but finally, the Board of Elections person intervened, and everything was A-OK.
 
(I have never seen such a presence of Board of Election people at the voting place as I did this year, and you really couldn’t miss them.)
 
Anyway, it was my turn, I signed in, and I was handed my ballot, and told to go to any of the desks set up for casting ballots to cast my own ballot.
 
I went from one to the other to the other, and none of them had pens.
 
Evidently the pens had been attached, but when people were done filling out their ballots, they simply absconded with the pens.
 
I guess they looked at it as a “souvenir.”
 
I told the person at the desk that there were no pens, she handed me one, and I was off to the races—and no, when I was done, I did not keep my pen, returning it back to the desk.
 
Anyway, as I have told you in the past, I will not vote for anybody on the Democratic or Republican tickets, as I do not believe in the two-party system as it stands.
 
I did vote on the secondary conservative or liberal lines, and for the judges, they were listed on the four major parties, so I voted for them in the secondary lines.
 
I only voted for one person on one of the two major party lines, and that was the person who helped me right before Election Day last year with a problem I had, so he deserved to get my vote on a major party line.
 
I stood by my convictions, and I am happy that I did so.
 
Next up is my mother and my son, who will vote this afternoon. I will take them to the polling place after I pick up my son from work.
 
I can’t speak for any other state—or maybe I can—but in New York State, I think it is pretty obvious how one should vote … but knowing New York State voters—who are often the most ignorant voters on the planet, in my opinion--things probably won’t work out as I see it.
 
If you think we are doing well as a state, then go ahead and vote in the incumbents.
 
If you believe we are not doing well as a state, then bring some new blood into the arena by voting in the challengers.
 
Really, it is as simple as that, but I don’t believe that most people vote that way in this state and they stupidly vote for party over what the person brings to the table.
 
That is clearly the wrong way to vote, and I am proud to say that I have never, in my nearly 50 years of voting, ever cast a ballot related to party.
 
I have voted for Republicans and Democrats, as well as Conservatives and Liberals, and I have voted for those running in minor parties and even written in my vote a couple of times.
 
That is what a true independent voter does, as we are not bound to any parties, and I do believe that in close races, we independents are the tipping points, with our votes giving one candidate the edge—and win—over the other.
 
But the most important thing is simply to V-O-T-E.
 
If you are on the fence about voting, you should exercise your right to do so, no matter who you vote for.
 
This is what being a citizen of the United States entails, and others around the world have fought for such a right, as our forefathers did.
 
So honestly, you owe it to yourself and to your country to vote today.
 
It is that important a job to do, and it is often the only time the public really gets to speak out on the issues by voting, or not voting for, certain candidates.
 
I certainly hope that all my choices win, although this is not the lottery or Powerball, and I do not need all my choices to win to qualify for the big prize.
 
The big prize here is that you did your duty as a citizen of this country to vote for the candidate of your choice.
 
That is the real jackpot here.
 
VOTE!
 
There is no reason not to do so, none at all.