August 23, 2006
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Politics
Every time I go and vote, I feel a little dirty, as if I’ve
participated in something immoral, beneath my dignity. I’m always
torn between the dread of letting the miscreants get away with their
machinations without any opposition from me, and that of encouraging
them by my presence.Yesterday’s gubernatorial and congressional primary here might have
gone on without me if there hadn’t also been two ballot measures,
campaign finance reform and a tax on cruise ships, that were important
to Greyfox. If he hadn’t come up here and taken Doug and me to
vote, we probably wouldn’t have bothered to go.I did not imagine that our two votes would decide the fate of the two
issues, nor was there the remotest chance that any of the races for
party nominations was going to be close. In other words, the
outing was pro forma, showing the flag, keeping our names on the voter
rolls, and an opportunity to stop by my friend Lois’s bake shop to
support the local economy and our sugar addictions. (Yes, my
abstinence has slipped. May public confession help me get it
back.)The scene at the polling place was a black comedy, low drama of a kind
that leaves a nasty taste behind. An elderly couple was there
ahead of us. He, being registered as “undeclared,” was allowed to
choose which of the three available ballots he wished to use. It
wasn’t that simple for the old woman.The poll worker had to explain to her several times that she wouldn’t
be allowed to vote on any of the Republican candidates. She
wanted very much to cast her vote for cute, sweet, vapid and evasive
Sarah Palin against the sleazy incumbent Frank Murkowski and the other
two candidates, an ordinary glib politician and an extraordinary raving
lunatic. She had a choice between the “combined” ballot and one
that contained only the two ballot measures and no primary candidates.The old woman was registered as a Libertarian, and in Alaska’s new
closed primary system, one must be registered as a Republican,
non-partisan, or undeclared, in order to obtain the separate Republican
ballot. The poll worker explained that she could change her
registration, which she did, but for this election she was stuck with
either the combined ballot containing the names of the Democrats,
Libertarians, Green Party candidates, Alaskan Independence Party
(secede or succumb), Independents and others.Muttering and whining, the old lady took her ballot and shuffled off to
the voting booth. She need not have feared for cute and
mealy-mouthed Sarah; she has won her disreputable party’s nomination by
a hefty margin. It never ceases to amaze me how far a politician
can go by simply not taking a stand on any issue, and answering all the
pointed questions with the same wandering discourse on how honored she
will be to serve Alaskans and support the Constitution, blah, blah,
blah….I was up next. I handed over my voter card and, since I am
registered as non-partisan, was offered a choice between the combined
ballot and the Republican one. For no better reason than to show
to the poll workers that I’m decidedly not
a Republican, I took the combined one. Greyfox, undeclared and
given the same choice, took the Republican ballot so he could vote
against Murkowski and Palin. He said he voted for the person with
the funniest name, which has to have been the lunatic. Doug’s
registered as a Libertarian (because there’s no category for
anarchists) and had to take the same ballot I chose.I didn’t ask Doug who he voted for. It doesn’t matter. The
Green Party hasn’t the ghost of a chance in any Alaskan election,
independent candidates don’t have enough money behind them to buy
enough airtime to get many votes, and even among my fellow Alaskans
nobody can dredge up a substantial number of votes for seceding from
the Union, so why bother choosing among those candidates in the
primary?I voted for Tony Knowles for the Democratic gubernatorial
nomination. He has had the job before, is competent, and has a
fair chance of defeating vapid Palin. What more could I want in a
candidate? He didn’t need my vote, but he got it anyway, and got
the nomination.
Comments (7)
I hate that dilemma… I feel like by voting, I’m encouraging the assholes… but by not voting, we let them run wild…
which reminds me of our state primary in one month. I have to go tomorrow to switch from rainbow/green to something that allows my vote in the democratic listings.
Did you get anything good at the bake shop?
I feel the same way each time I vote, but I still vote to make my voice heard…somewhat. I’m Independent, so people I vote for generally don’t win. I still vote though. At least it makes me feel like I’ve stood up and voiced my displeasure with the government, even if no one is listening.
…and sometimes your vote can make the difference whether your candidate gets his/her deposit back, at least that’s the way it works here.
but please enlighten me on the name of the race…you get to pick amongst the gubers to see who gets to be governor ? and you get to call them gubers to their face ?
you are lucky you have the choice to vote or not…here it is compulsory..dont vote and you get fined
FYI–in line at Fred’s this morning, I chatted about the election with the checker, and why I didn’t vote for Palin because she opposes reproductive rights for women and civil rights for gays.
Every one in line broke up when I concluded by saying “Sarah Palin is just Frank Murkowski in drag.”
(rim shot)