Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Election Day Blues

The mayorial race in Philly turned real ugly as the primary campaign came to a close. No one is surprised. Unfortunately, for my BF she is caught right smack in the middle of the drama. I hope her guy wins because he has made his money, so there will not be need for him to use the office to make more. This will be good for the city and suburbia. I guess. I hope. Unless he fires everybody, the lifers employed by the city may just make his life miserable. The other candidates have done very little to serve the residents of Philadelphia.

I took the day off to "work the polls." For my first shift, I was stationed at the local library. The follow of traffic was awesome...for "story time." The folks of voting age simply did not want to be bothered. During my three hour shift, I counted fifteen voters. Four actually took Democratic literature. In my neck of the woods, this is news. One resident returned to vote and brought me a vegetarian sandwich. Both gestures made me happy.

Those who arrived to actually vote were seniors against referendum on income tax. They weren't sure why but it had to be bad because it is a tax. These were some of the same folks who were upset because it took so long to clear the down trees after a recent storm. Sigh. They want an infrastructure but don't want to pay for it. In this community, the tax will not affect our lives.

It's a primary for local offices so I expected the turnout to be low but not this low. Our area had record turnout last November.

My afternoon shift is at the local skilled nursing facility, I wonder if the the flow of traffic will pick up.

If you have an today, take a few minutes to vote. What happens at the local level has a direct impact on your daily life.

Vote.

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