New York has just instituted early voting and I jumped at it.<\/p>\n
I love voting at any time but wanted to see what’s new and doing here. And there’s a lot:<\/p>\n
The place where I voted had tons of election folk there, all friendly, all helpful. Many more election people than actual voters; I heartily recommend early voting to anybody who’s really busy. Voting early is rapid.<\/p>\n
At the tables where we used to sign our names in a huge binder, our names now appear on small computer screens (woowee!)…where we sign our names.<\/p>\n
Today, because this is an off-year election, the actual ballot was printed out right there, customized for each voter, although an election lady told me next year they’ll be back to handing out pre-printed ballots.<\/p>\n
And we had five proposals to vote upon, one of which was for ranked choice voting. I voted “yes.” Ranked choice voting is a use-or-don’t-use thing. If a voter wants to vote only for the candidate she supports, she can do so. But if she chooses to use the ranked choice system, she’ll participate in cutting down or out entirely expensive run-off elections — in which a\u00a0 small minority of the population votes.<\/p>\n
I’ve been thinking about the psychology of ranked choice voting and applying it mentally to a group of candidates such as the large group now in the Democratic presidential campaign. Intellectually, I think, we all give our attention to the campaign and debates with some degree of maturity. That is, I may really really like one candidate, but do not dislike a number of others. Mental ranked choice voting strips the Manichean love-hate business right out of it. It means we can put a candidate in the number one spot but give support, if somewhat lesser, to other candidates we like.<\/p>\n
This will cut down on agitation, rage, hot arguments better than ingesting anti-anxiety meds. We have enough anxiety as it is; we shouldn’t suffer even more over the candidates we actually like.<\/p>\n
And I’m wearing the “I voted” sticker right on my jacket.<\/p>\n
What a good, proud girl I am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York has just instituted early voting and I jumped at it. I love voting at any time but wanted to see what’s new and doing here. And there’s a lot: The place where I voted had tons of election … Continue reading