In the United States it’s Election Day—one of ’em. According to the Constitution it’s the first Tuesday of November, ’cause they couldn’t make it Monday, ’cause back in the 1780s it might take you a whole day to travel to the polls, and religious folks didn’t wanna travel on Sunday. So, Tuesday. It’d be more convenient on a Saturday, but then again you can vote by mail, y’know.
The previous Election Day was back on 3 June, when we already voted for most of these people. California being a heavily Democratic state, the Democrats won by huge majorities. But the way our state’s elections work, there’s gotta be a runoff between the top two vote-getters in all the partisan offices. (Even if the top vote-getter had such a lead over all other candidates, there’s no point in any runoff. Which happened. Often.) So that’s what this election is: People looking at the ballot and saying, “I thought he lost. Why’s he on the ballot again?”
Hence turnout is expected to be low. Which is dumb, ’cause if enough people skip the election, and the number-two guy can mobilize his supporters, he might win this time around. But he likely won’t. The stats aren’t in their favor. I tell you though, if any of them actually pull it off, it’ll be the last time: Everyone will remember the freak occurrence.
In any case, everybody’s repeating the old saw, “No matter who you vote for [and you’re in idiot if you don’t vote same as me], make sure you vote! Your vote counts.”
Yeah, sometimes it does.
The bigger the election, the less your vote counts. True, it’s possible there will be a ridiculously close statewide race, and one vote makes all the difference. It’s happened before. But not in California for the past 30 years, so I wouldn’t hold my breath. Same thing with state executive branch, federal senators, and presidential elections: The state’s gonna vote for the Democrat. Maybe for a liberal Republican, like former senator Pete Wilson, but the state Republican party is still not sure how to achieve the right balance between fiscal liberal and social liberal. Too socially liberal and they’ll alienate the religious right, which has all the voters; too fiscally liberal and they’ll alienate the libertarians, who have all the money. But for the most part, everybody they put forward strikes the voters as, “What, I’m supposed to take this person seriously?” and they don’t.
Your vote sometimes counts when it comes to state propositions, ’cause too many people skip those.
Your vote rarely counts in state legislature races. Not the way the local Republicans keep putting up empty shirts. Last several elections, every Republican candidate has been one of those Tea Party nimrods—if they’re not officially in the movement, they’ve definitely got the rhetoric down. They consistently guarantee many of the moderate Republicans and fence-sitters will sit that vote out or vote Democrat; and that’s just in the evenly-split Solano County. Bear in mind our county is usually districted with bluer counties like Yolo, Sacramento, Contra Costa, or Napa. Maybe the Republicans know they have little chance, and since they have idiots to burn (hey, let’s be fair; all parties do) they run ’em here. But uqqntil they finally run someone who can sway Democrats, we’re never voting red.
But local issues? Local offices? There, your vote definitely counts. Who you pick for mayor, city council, school board, county supervisor—those count. Always vote for those.
Predictions are for a low turnout, but the line at the poll was pretty long anyway. People in this city vote. Got to stand behind a pair of Tea Partiers, who were talking about how, according to everyone they knew, Jerry Brown had no chance whatsoever at reelection. Never mind how he cleaned up in June; the echo chamber had spoken.
I kept my mouth shut.
I was tempted to talk about how, according to everyone I knew, Barack Obama didn’t even win the last election. The reason you never heard anything about President Romney was because the liberal media had concocted an elaborate fantasy, and were playing that out on the airwaves, despite everything the real president had done to protect us from the Cylon invasion. What, you hadn’t heard the Cylons invaded? Where’s your tinfoil hat? You know they’re beaming all that “President Obama” stuff directly into your brain without it.
But no. I figured the actual election results would mess with ’em just as much.