Originally published on: 9/12/2006 4:01:35 PM
I got out and voted first thing this morning. Shelly and I always vote before work, both because it's usually less of a pain at 7:00am and because it doesn't threaten a meal (hey, I enjoy my meals). It is amazing, though, how much the size of the crowd differs for a primary election over, particularly a presidential general election. We weren't actually there until about 10 after 7 and were the 7th and 8th people through the process.
This is the first election we've voted in since moving here (I really can't remember why we didn't vote last year). Since we've had our drivers' licenses for this address since last summer, and we always check the "register me to vote" box at the licensing bureau, we didn't even think about the fact we might not already be registered.
It turned out that we weren't. I'm not going to worry about why that happened. That's because Minnesota has one of the best same-day voter registration policies in the country and, after a bit of checking to make sure that he didn't need our drivers' licenses AND a bill in our name at the address, we got our ballots and headed off to the little tables.
The voting equipment here in Brooklyn Center is the same as what it was in St. Paul: little blue tables with a small plastic "shroud" that keeps your neighbor's eyes on their own paper. No "booths", handles, levers, etc. Just a scantron bubble sheet to be fed into the reader.
After a quick vanity check to make sure I was on it, I filled in the front side of the ballot, voting for my choices in the Independence party for governor, senator and the like and flipped it over to the local races. I went down the sheet, showing great restraint by voting for myself in the proper order of the ballot.
A quick trip over to the machine and my vote was cast. I entered a mayoral race for a $5 filing fee back in July, did little to no campaigning (though I wish I had had time for more than I did) and spent exactly $0 beyond the filing fee. My name was on the ballot for the primary election and I voted for myself this morning. Depending on the results, this may be the end of the road for this year's edition of this experiment or I may be head-to-head for the general election. Out of the 5 candidates you see listed here only 2 move on to the general election.
Overall, thus far, it's been an interesting look at the mechanics of running for office and, I hope, lowered the perceived barrier of entry for some folks. Now, lets watch those returns come in.