vote for… Ross Perot?

I went and voted today. I exercised my right as an American citizen. I was torn about voting today. I didn’t really care for either candidate… and thus I was concerned that I wouldn’t have the motivation to go stand in line and go through all of the rigmarole. Because, my friends, I haven’t changed the address on my driver’s license from our move in May – and I pay all of my bills online, so no electric bill to show proof of address.

So, at 7 a.m. this morning I decide I’m going to go vote. I go to the old precinct where I used to be registered to vote (and that corresponds to the address on my driver’s license) to place my tally next to one of the candidates – only I find out that I’m not registered there anymore. Stupid post office change of address forms. After waiting in line for 45 minutes, I tell the registration people that I’ll have to vote later, because I’m not going to lie to them and tell them that I currently live at the address on my license. And I’m not going to commit voter fraud.

I hop in my car, drive to the DMV, and get my license updated. Then I drive to the polling place that corresponds with my NEW address, and get in line to vote. Thankfully the line was short, and a mere 15 minutes later I was on my merry way.

While voting, I had a couple of observations:

Observation 1: It would be very easy to commit voter fraud and vote twice. I thought of several ways I could have done that today. But I didn’t. I hope no one else did, either. WE EACH GET ONE VOTE! :)

Observation 2: While waiting in line at the first voting place, I overheard three loud young men discussing their dislike of both candidates. Then one said, “Dude, I wish Ross Perot was running.” To which his friend said, “Yeah, he’s definitely who we need. The only problem is that he was rich and was all concerned about his oil. But he could dig our economy out.” I wanted to respond with, “Seriously? Ross Perot? That’s so 1992.” But I bit my tongue.

Observation 3: Voting for state supreme court justices takes a really long time. And I have no idea who I voted for. Is this really a good use of our democratic process? I was tempted to write in Ryan's name. Maybe in 2012.

Observation 4: Voting facilities for the rich are a lot more pleasant than those for the poor.