Small Town Polling

As I was walking to the City Hall this morning to cast my vote, a friend of mine passed me by. "Oh, my husband is running for City Commissioner on a write in," she said. "I wasn't sure you knew."

No, no I did not. I thanked her for the info and headed into the building. There, I did the normal small town thing (or at least the normal antisocial small town thing) where they could remember my street address, but not my name. This is the sort of thing that would creep me out in another context.*

In any case, a few short moments later, I was sitting in the little electronic booth. There was no line. This one of many fine advantages of living in a place with a population of less than 500. As I scrolled carefully through my choices, making selections and shaking my head at the lack of choices. (Seriously, I considered writing in a pop star for Senate. Just because I'm so freakin' tired of those guys.) And then, finally, I reached the section for City Commissioner.

"Choose four," read the instructions. Which was funny because there appeared to be only two people running. I made my choices.

Then, because I hadn't chosen four, I briefly considered writing myself in. For symmetry, I suppose. But then, I realized that there was a very real chance I'd end up winning. Only in a small town.

The moral of the tale is VOTE. Right now, seriously, I mean it. All the cool kids are doing it. Go. Now.

*Like if you were at the mall and some stranger walked up to you and said, "Hey, don't you live at 1411 Walnut Street?**"

**Not my real address. That probably didn't need to be said.