Went to the local polling station and voted. What is this, like, the third or fourth time in my life that I've done such a thing? Yeesh. I must be going insane. Wasn't much on the voting sheet (I chose paper) aside from some ballot initiatives. No people to check off; I suppose the fate of the House and Senate are in the hands of the citizens of other districts. Will be curious to follow the voting on TV this evening.
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Hi Kevin!
ReplyDeleteI had a bit of trouble understanding this post. I'm also curious: are you in DC proper? If so, that means you don't get to vote for representation that actually votes in the Senate, right? (I can't remember: is is the same for the House? I seem to remember reading that there's a non-voting DC representative in one chamber/house/whatever, and a voting member whom DC residents can't vote for in the other.)
Nathan, thanks for the comment. I live in Alexandria, Virginia, about twelve miles south of DC. Technically, I'm in northern Virginia (which we call "NoVA," pronounced "nova"); NoVA is part of a region referred to as "the DC-Metro area," which includes northern Virginia, DC, and those parts of southern Maryland that touch DC.
ReplyDeleteSorry for any ambiguity. Long ago, I wrote a post on voting in which I made clear that, up to that point, I hadn't voted, and that I considered not voting to be a perfectly legitimate move: if all the menu items are shit sandwiches, then you should leave the restaurant. I still believe that, but in recent years I've found myself moving outside of my own comfort zone and voting. This post was a joking look at how I seem to have changed.
As is probably true in Canada, not all districts vote on the same matters at the same time. I guess that, where I live, the only pressing issues were various ballot measures. As for your questions regarding DC representation and voting, I found a Wikipedia entry that might answer you better than I can: District of Columbia voting rights.
Hope this helps.
Kevin
It does! For what it's worth, I support representation for DC.
ReplyDeleteAs for Canada, we rarely have issues on the ballots here. In fact, in my life time, I think there have been only two initiatives on the ballot: the Charlottetown Accord, federally, and a proposed proportional representation scheme provincially. (There will be another one provincially in about a year or so, on the matter of the repeal of a controversial tax.)
Hey Kevin. Let me get this straight. You didn't have an option to vote for a member of Congress on the paper ballot?
ReplyDeleteIf you didn't have the option of voting for someone for Congress then you either a) did something wrong or b) had a defective ballot. You should have had a minimum of 4 choices to make on your ballot.
Every seat in Virginia was contested by a Democrat and a Republican (and most districts had at least a Libertarian and Green party person too). Everyone in the state was asked the same three questions for the Constitution. I don't know if there were other ballot issues in Fairfax County.
Your Congressional district was one of the most fiercely contested ones in the country. In fact, as of a few hours ago there was no declared winner.
If you don't mind a little clarification on this it would make me feel better...