Wednesday, October 14, 2020

This is a nice morning. Two flights of whistling ducks flew over. At least three dozen birds or more. The sky is colorful. A mockingbird is starting to sing early.

Well I made it to the polls yesterday. When Sherry got home from work we drove to the library to vote. When they scanned my license in I was flagged to see the election judge because I received a mail-in ballot.

It seems that if you receive a mail-in ballot and don’t bring it with you, you have to fill out an affidavit and you cast a provisional ballot. Now I don’t know how it works in other states, but here in Texas provisional ballots are generally challenged by the Republican Party. So I would say the President’s*** plan succeeded. By casting doubt on the validity of mail-in ballots, and casting doubt on the ability of the Postal Service to deliver the ballots on time, and talking about seizing mail-in ballots after the election he has managed to talk many out of using them.

Since my ballot was still sitting on my desk, I just needed to run back home and get it. Then I could cast a regular ballot. Sadly, I heard some of those around me talking about worrying their mail-in ballots could be fraudulent so they destroyed or disposed of them. Those voters were probably Trump voters and they had to cast provisional ballots.

The one thing I noticed yesterday was once inside the room, social distancing was out the door. It was four people at a six foot table. Voting machines were cheek to jowl around the perimeter of the room. Not a healthy pandemic environment. I especially worry about the health of the volunteers working there.

But, I voted. And my vote will be counted. Hopefully, with enough other’s to turn this country back around before it goes over the precipice.

And you know what, after eight years of Mitch McConnell keeping the courts empty so he could pack the courts when he got the chance, I think if Democrats take control it’ll be their turn… and they should.