I voted

I figured I'd get my civic duty out of the way so I wouldn't miss out if my daily schedule got hosed.

Lines weren't too bad... when I got to the school the line for my precinct stretched from the gym to the door, but not out the door. Line moved fairly quickly. I timed it and I was in and out in 25 minutes.

There were at least a few obvious new voters in attendance... young folks who weren't familiar with the procedure. The poll workers were nice about talking them through things.

I refused to vote in any uncontested races as a matter of principle (I want my vote to be a *choice* dammit, not a rubber stamp).

As I was looking at the ballot and the write-in sections it got me wondering... if I write in "John Smith" how do the powers that be know *which* "John Smith" I'm voting for? I know, I know, by and large write-ins are merely a placebo to administer to disaffected voters and statistically they're down in the noise level, but it got me wondering... what if in a future election I were to do a bit of culture jamming? Line up a whole bunch of "John Smiths" with differing political views and stage a "John Smith" write-in campaign? "John Smith will lower your taxes! Write him in!" "John Smith is pro-life! Write him in!" "John Smith is pro-choice! Write him in!" "John Smith will make sure everyone gets a pony! Write him in!"

I wonder if I could get a grant to do this as performance art...