Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Another Blog Entry That Doesn't Really Count As Today's Blog Entry

I have successfully voted. As usual, my polling place was uncrowded which I think has more to do with how well its run than with voter turnout. I've never waited more than ten minutes to vote there, and this morning, I only had to wait for them to find my name in the registry, then straight into the booth, and boom, done. My voting district is overwhelmingly Democrat, so I expect a high turnout. Also, my district is predominantly black (probably 60% or more), so I'll be very interested to see which way it goes here.

Like most other States, in NY only registered Democrats can vote for Democrats in the Primary; Republicans for Republicans, etc. NY is the last state (I'm told), that uses the old-fashioned booth with the levers to register your vote. When I got into the booth, I saw both the ballots for Democrats and for Republicans. I'd assume that by pulling Democrat levers I was locked out of pulling Republican levers, but I have no idea what would have prevented me from voting as if I was a registered Republican.

Also, worth noting, NYC is throwing a parade for the NY Giants as we speak. The parade route is up the "Canyon of Heroes"; Broadway from Battery Park to City Hall. This is the same place they've thrown parades for the Astronauts, for Nelson Mandella, for the end of WWII, for Charles Lindburgh and a host of others. The funny thing is that every station here is carrying it live, with the exception of PBS which is carrying a kid's show and The CW which apparently couldn't be dragged away for Jerry Springer.

Update: If there is anything lamer than watching a sportscaster and a meteorologist giving the "play by play" for a parade, its the rabid "man on the street" interviews.

Update Again: They just had Tamayra Gray sing the National Anthem. Somebody please tell her that singing a bunch of trills is just plain annoying. And there's no such word a Pa-roh-liss.

Again with the Updates: Now we get to watch as they call each Owner, Coach, Trainer and Player to come to the podium and get a key to the city from Mayor Bloomberg. And the camera's got an angle that shows Bloomberg's face and the back of each recipient's head. Man that's some compelling T.V.

Last Update:
Strahan was the second to last to speak (before Manning) and he was actually pretty good. When he got up, it had started to rain. He told the crowd, "We're New Yorkers. We suck it up." How long will it take before it shows up on YouTube with a slight edit so that he's saying, "We're New Yorkers. We suck".

I give it an hour.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay voting in an old-fashioned voting booth!

I've never used one with levers, but I remember when I was a kid going with my parents and thinking that being able to enter the voting booth was the coolest thing in the world.

Now we have vote-by-mail. I call it junk vote. :P

Nathan said...

It does do something for your confidence that your vote will be counted.

MWT said...

The ones I've seen have been lighted buttons and touch screens. Levers would probably be more fun.

Anyway, I came here on the rumor that there's ice cream afoot. Where?

*rummages through the back of Nathan's freezer*

Nathan said...

MWT,

If you mean fun, like the kind of fun where you believe your voted counted, then hell yeah.

And I'd be careful in the back of the freezer. I can't really attest to what you might find back there.

Janiece said...

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream to Have our Votes Counted!