Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Vote early if not often


      Tuesday, March 15, is the presidential primary in Illinois, and for the first time in my adult life I won't go to the polls on Election Day.
     Not only won't I be voting, I can't.
     It's against the law.
     I'm tempted to let you chew on that a bit, like the old riddle that stumped people in slightly more sexist times, where the man and his son are in a car wreck, the boy is rushed into surgery, and the doctor there says: "I can't operate on that boy, he's my son!"
     Any idea? (About the voting. The doctor is his mom; you knew that, right?)
     The reason I can't vote March 15 — and good for you who got it — is that I've already voted, on Monday, Feb. 29, at the start of early voting. First time. I'm a creature of habit. I like dutifully marching off to the polls on Election Day. But I'm going to Japan in a few days, and while I'm supposed to get back March 14, I don't want to be stuck on a plane diverted to Guam, gnashing my teeth at the delay, tortured by the thought I'm missing my chance to toss a pebble on the scales for ....

  
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8 comments:

  1. Best to not vote for any of the judges,if unsure.

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  2. I just refer to the Sun Times list of Judicial recommendations when voting. Some voters just skip the Judicial portion of the voting, others select the most pleasing name. Most voters just follow their party recommendations. What seems strange to me is, the people who go through the ballot and select retain for every sitting judge, that's what makes it hard to eliminate an incompetent judge.

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  3. Wonderful how you can turn a simple trip to vote into an adventure.

    john

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  4. I take the Sun-Times recommendations with me as well. Or when voting for judges, I sometimes vote against my initial instinct and go for a name not as "pleasing" or common, figuring everyone else is voting for "Michael Smith".

    I can only imagine how difficult it is for minorities voting in the red states, and shudder to think what (illegal?) atrocities are taking place.

    SandyK

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  5. I think about this question often. Is it better to elect judges. It is pretty obvious that the majority of us have no clue about judges. On the other hand if they are appointed, then how much patronage is involved. The same when it comes to picking state supreme court judges. If you go to the bottom of the page you will find that there are some different ways in which those judges get selected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_supreme_court Here is a column from the LA Times on why voters shouldn't elect judges. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-levinson-end-judicial-elections-20140509-story.html Even if you go by the paper's editorial suggestions, doesn't a paper have some type of political agenda. How much would the Suntimes differ from the Trib. Of course most cities just have one paper. How much should they be trusted.

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  6. I was taken aback at seeing "eeny, meeny,miny, moe" highlighted in this morning's print edition as this little rhyme was, in my youth, followed by a highly incorrect couplet. In checking with Mr. Google to verify my possibly failing memory, I see that the poem morphed over time to a more acceptable form that substituted a tiger for the "animal" one then caught by the toe. An inoffensive, except perhaps to PETA, but rather unconvincing modification.

    Assuming Neil neither speaks nor reads Japanese he could be in for a blessedly Trump free few days, but I suppose duty will require him to follow the depressing election news on the unavoidable internet.

    Tom Evans

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    Replies
    1. I remember my Great Grandma saying that rhyme in the very unPC version when I was little. When my Dad informed her that the word was changed to tiger, she said that was ridiculous, who would catch a tiger like that.

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  7. It's funny to see the RNC all in a panic over Trump.

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