This morning, I woke up, hugged Nae, went to Caribou Coffee to get her a pumpkin spiced latte to make sure she was awake then checked email while she showered. Then I showered and we hopped in the car to head over to our voting location.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

We got there about 15 minutes after the polls opened and there were about 50 people in line outside the door and probably another 20 inside who were voting and/or signing and getting their stuff from poll workers.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

One of the helpful poll workers was telling asking if folks lived in either that complex or the complex next to it (which would be ours) because that was a different precinct and had no line, so we got to cut ahead of a dozen people. Also, to speed things up, we could vote electronically or via paper ballots (which were basically the absentee ballots that were used for early voting). Both Nae and I decided to go electronic.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

On the plus side, the touch screens were the same ones I've used before, fairly reliable and they provide a paper ballot that you review before actually casting your ballot. On the negative, there's always that niggling doubt that the machine will electronically record votes for whomever it wants and the paper trail will only get used in contested votes. But one has to choose one's battles and I am willing to trust that my vote was properly recorded and will be properly counted.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

In addition to the Presidential ballot, I voted against John Boehner (whom I have called W's hand puppet before). I have no idea who the Democratic nominee running against him was and, the district must seem fairly safe because Boehner wasn't even running ads, but I voted against him on principle that any man who spouts W's words is nothing more than a puppet and we could use anyone else in Congress representing us.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

There were also 5 state wide ballots, with the two most contentious being the Payday lending and the casino. All 5 state wide issues would change the Ohio Constitution, but these two were as bad as Prop 8 in California. The first, the pay day lending issue, that was the most difficult to understand if all you did was listen to the ads. The legislation passed a law that limited the lenders. They fought to put it on the ballot and have the law temporarily suspended. Then they began to promote it.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

If you voted Yes on the issue, then you were approving the already passed legislation (details). Payday lenders used the scare of 6000 jobs lost and the fact that one had to vote Yes to support the passed legislation where Yes usually means adding something new caused a lot of confusion that was capitalized upon by the commercials the lenders put out.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

Then there was Issue 6, a Casino in a state that has failed to allow gambling. That was another dirty campaign. Given that DHL is going to be putting a lot of people out of work in the same area that the Casino wanted to go in, there were plenty of heartstring tugging ads about people who work at DHL wanting it to pass so they could have a job.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

I voted no. For many reasons, take your pick:

• Casino's have historically hired few of the local people for the glamour jobs they promise. Dealers need special training and waitresses need to be eye candy.
• Gambling can be an addiction. It is followed by losses and high costs to the community as they deal with the issues brought about by gambling closer to home.
• The owner was an out of state person who has no reason for building in Ohio that benefits Ohio.
• Casinos are not recession proof.

Anyway, if you are a registered voter and haven't done so yet, vote.

vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote! vote!

If you are eligible to vote and didn't register, I won't listen to you whine about government and how it operates. Get involved and vote next time. I have scattered subliminal messages throughout this post to help convince you of that. And if you have voted, I top my hat to you.