I Voted Today!

I happen to live in the Atlanta (Dekalb County) Georgia and I exercised my right as an American Citizen today; I voted.

In Dekalb County, as in most of the country, we have two(2) methods of Advance Voting for election. We have Absentee Voting and we have Advance Voting.

Advance Voting allows any registered voter to cast their vote in an election at a select number of County mandated locations during the week preceding the Election Day (Nov. 4th). Absentee Voting allows any registered to cast his/her vote in the office of the County Elections Officials for up to 30 days prior to Elections Day.

I chose to use the option of Absentee Voting because I thought that I would not like to be facing the large crowds that I anticipate during the week prior to Elections Day. Well, you can imagine how surprised I was when I stepped in the Elections Office and discovered that about 300-400 people were in line!

This was on a Thursday, just before Noon! Although it only took about 30 minutes for me to complete the entire process, I almost left because I was so discouraged by all of those eager voting citizens.

I think that it is truly wonderful to see such a level of citizen participation in election process. The one thing that frustrated me was how completely uninformed I was when it came to all the other issues that were on the ballot. There were a number of issues and candidates,on the ballot, that got little or no press coverage!

Every news item, leading up to the election, concentrated on the top of the ticket; the Presidential Candidates. There was barely a mention to all of the other 'local' candidates, even in the local news coverage of the election! There was absolutely no coverage of the various referendums and other 'tax affecting' issues on the ballot! I only remembered to review the various ballot issues while I was waiting in line to cast me ballot.

I am of the opinion that this is the way 'incumbent' politicians want it! The less you know, the better off they are! They can include 'tax increases' under the guise of improving something and you don't even know it when you cast your vote.

I would strongly suggest that anyone planning on voting in the General Election, go on-line and preview the many 'other' issues on the ballot that you will be using, when you vote. That way, you will already be familiar with the issues and other candidates on the ballot.

Don't go in as unprepared as I was and then have to rely on your best guess in order to do what is your right and duty as a citizen; Vote! An informed electorate is Democracy's best friend! It is also an incumbent's worse nightmare.