winterbadger | Entries tagged with elections

...somewhere in America...

AmericanElectorate: Hello? I hope you can help me; I recently downloaded your app, "USElection", for my mobile phone, but I've been trying to boot it up since 7 am this morning, and it just hangs.

TechSupport: Did you validate your user account?

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I'm not as angry, sad, bored, or resentful of election coverage and election debate as many people seem to be (maybe it comes from spending a lot of time reading about places where elections--if allowed at all--are completely corrupt or life-threateningly violent, or both).

But I am amazed at how much electioneering I've been subjected to, both by phone and through the mail. It's almost entirely related to state and county ballot measures, and it's heavier than I can recall encountering before. Ever.

I'm sure my friends and family in Virginia are getting swamped with material on the federal races, as they are much more of a swing state than Maryland is. I'm hearing a LOT about casino gambling, some about police unions, and a little about gay marriage. Almost nothing about about the presidential and Senate races, and just a little about the House race, I suspect largely because my neighbourhood has been redistricted and they want to be sure everyone knows who their rep actually *is*. :-)

Current Mood: relaxed

One of my editing colleagues, having researched some of the over a dozen parties appearing on his/her ballot paper..

"According to the Wikipedia entry on the Christian Party they're not keen
on the EU either. Their other policies (it's an eclectic list) include
limits around coastlines to preserve stocks of fish and sand eels,
discouragement of the practice of addressing women as Ms, and changing
the Welsh flag because they view the red dragon as a satanic symbol."

Reminds me of the "Standing-At-The-Back-Dressed-Stupidly-And-Looking-Stupid Party" in Blackadder:

Vincent Hanna (interviewer): Ivor Biggun, no votes at all for the Standing-At-The-Back- Dressed-Stupidly-And-Looking-Stupid Party. Are you disappointed?

Ivor Biggun (candidate): Ah, no, not really, no... I always say, "If you can't laugh, what can you do?" Ha-ha-ha-ha (squirts Hanna with flower).

Vincent Hanna: Take up politics, perhaps. Has your party got any policies?

Ivor Biggun: Oh yes, certainly! We're for the compulsory serving of asparagus at breakfast, free corsets for the under-fives, and the abolition of slavery.

Vincent Hanna: Now; you see, many moderate people would respect your stand on asparagus, but what about this extremist nonsense about abolishing slavery?

Ivor Biggun: Oh, we just put that in for a joke! See you next year!

Current Mood: bored

Every discussion of politics in the Old Dominion eventually comes back to Northern Virginia, and numbers show why. Anchored by the state's largest jurisdiction and home to two of the nation's fastest-growing counties, there are nearly 400,000 more voting-age adults in the region than when Allen won in 2000, and they were not kind to his candidacy Tuesday.

Even when he ran in 2000 against a Northern Virginian, former senator Charles S. Robb, Allen lost by only 3 percentage points and 30,000 votes. This year, Webb beat Allen by 116,000 votes and 17 points in the region. About half of that margin came from Fairfax County, the state's biggest place and an important symbol of the change in the state's politics.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110802578.html

After a bitter race, which will determine what party controls the Senate, where the outcome is still uncertain, and which will turn on a few thousand votes out of a total of over 2 million, don't anyone, ANYONE dare to tell me their vote isn't important and doesn't count.

This was a critical election, and voters in Virginia may have been able to help turn the tide. Thank you, everyone who voted, and extra thanks to those who worked for the candidates and parties--telling people about the issues, getting voters to polls--and to those who staffed polls, making sure that people were able to vote. Democracy works because of you guys!

Current Mood: thankful

I don't generally post political appeals, but my politics are hardly a secret either. I may be preaching to the choir here, but please, visit The Commonwealth Coalition website, check out their ad against the upcoming Virginia ballot question, read the other information they have there, and consider contributing to their campaign.

Ballot question #1 is a wrong-headed, bigoted anti-gay measure that is so broadly drawn that it would hurt many non-gay Virginians. It would also enshrine divisiveness and hatred in our commonwealth's constitution, which has got to be an idea anathema to all decent Virginians.

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"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

..."and you [sleeping] there like a winter badger."

Entries tagged with elections

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Northern Virginia may have been critical battleground in election

vote NO!

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