I voted

[jim_p]

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...

Comments

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

I believe I read somewhere that you had to put in the write-in's name and address. Of course, if you're voting for George Foreman, who named all his children after himself, it could get messy...

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

The Secretary of the Commonwealth (http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elestkr/stkridx.htm) tells how to run as a write-in candidate, which includes the instructions on how to vote for a write-in candidate.

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

Heh. My town uses optical scan ballots, and even the SecState says that the area available for write-in is 2.25" wide by 0.25" high. Good luck writing a legible name *and* address in that space, especially if you didn't bring your own pen (the big fat ballot-marking pens they supply could barely write "John Smith" in that tiny space...)

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I did it this morning. you just use the end of the felt-tipped pens :)

And BTW, all my state reps had their address on the ballot, so I figured it out from context.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

You write the name and address of the candidate. It's easier if there's a sticker-campaign -- people pre-print up stickers that you can stick into the write-in space.