Sunday, November 06, 2016

Early Voting: Plucky Voters Something Wrong Here...Besides You and the Rain. By Geniusofdespair

Look at West Dade Regional Library. 2,451 voters voted Nov. 4. Then 2,451 voters voted November 5th. I just think that is wrong. What do you you think?  How could it be exactly the same 2 days in a row? How?

The Saturday total number of 40,051 is down from Friday's total of 42,810. Why? Rain I suspect, rain phobia to be exact. Why does  that 51 number keep popping up? Someone at elections likes that number.

Christmas decorations at Aventura Mall Nov. 6th
Anyway, I know you are all Christmas shopping  because I saw the decorations and thousands of you peeps at the mall. You might all be saying, like I am, isn't it a little early for Christmas decorations? And I would answer, if you have an election that lasts for at least three years -- torturing us all that time -- nothing is ever too early anymore.  I want some birthday wishes today! My birthday is only 10 months away.

Take time from your Christmas shopping and Go Vote!  
This is the last day of early voting.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please vote, the choices may not be great but our democracy is dependent on it. Both candidates should be studied for their policies, Clinton is the only choice.

Anonymous said...

(1 of 2) Thank you for posting the early voting locations. I went to the Arsht Center this morning moments after it opened. The streets were empty at just before 7 a.m. but wet from the rains last night. I was accompanied for most of my short trip from Brickell by hundreds of brightly colored bicyclists, legs pumping, wheels kicking up tiny splashes in the street. It reminded me of the hundreds of ecstatic Pacific Whiteside Dolphins riding the bow of a boat I was on in the waters off of Seattle this summer, but through a uniquely Miami prism. When I arrived at the Arsht, I found it well staffed and running like the clockwork. They were set up to process hundreds of voters at any one time, and I was grateful for their efficiency. I received my ballot less than one minute after arrival (I timed it) and went through the 2.5 pages in less than 10 minutes. Because Eye on Miami and others have been faithfully and so thoroughly covering the issues, I could have completed the process much more quickly; however, I wanted to savor the moment. It was hard not to, and I was surprised at how overwhelmed I was by emotion. I'm a lawyer, so I'm cynical by nature and by training. But from the moment I walked in the door, I felt the shadows, and heard the voices, of the countless souls going back generation after generation after generation after generation, who had given their lives so that we could be here today, free and safe, to exercise a unique privilege to choose who will represent us and who, from the court house to the White House and all points in between, will make decisions that could, and will likely, affect our lives and the lives of families and friends far into the future. For anyone intending not to vote, how can you not hear their echoing voices too? How can you not feel their spectral hands on your shoulders? David Frum, editor of The Atlantic, a man whose politics I don’t support, has been writing and saying interesting things lately about the breakdown of institutions and the false moral equivalency between the two candidates. This is from a piece he published on November 2nd: “Having failed to act promptly at the outset, it’s all the more important to act decisively before it’s too late. The lesson Trump has taught is not only that certain Republican dogmas have passed out of date, but that American democracy itself is much more vulnerable than anyone would have believed only 24 months ago. Incredibly, a country that—through wars and depression—so magnificently resisted the authoritarian temptations of the mid-20th century has half-yielded to a more farcical version of that same threat without any of the same excuse. The hungry and houseless Americans of the Great Depression sustained a constitutional republic. How shameful that the Americans of today—so vastly better off in so many ways, despite their undoubted problems—have done so much less well.” This is a solemn day but a joyous day and, for me, was a chance to reconnect with my community at the most elemental level; to say, I am here and my voice, together with your voice, matters. What a song we all sing together. The run up to the singing may be discordant (so many false notes), but the actual song, once it begins, is sweet and clear and full of . . . harmony.

Anonymous said...

(2 of 2) I'm a 49-year-old male of Anglo heritage. I've lived in Miami my whole life. I've seen so much change, much of which started when I was in grade school, Ludlum Elementary in South Miami, a wonderful mix of every ethnicity that Miami-Dade then represented. By the time I left grade school for middle school, the percentage of Hispanic students was swelling. Increasingly, I had friends who came from far off places, who spoke another language, who had parents and grandparents who spoke only another language, whose dinners were more exotic (and tastier) than mine, and whose sports and sports heroes were different than mine. Even at that young age, it made me feel more alive. It made the world around me seem so electric and full of variety and possibility. And now, fast forward almost four decades to last night, I was at the I Heart Radio concert at the American Airlines Arena (don't ask), which vibrated with a banging pulse that sounded and looked and moved so different from the Miami of my youth that it could have been a photonegative. And it was wonderful. So much change between now and then, making our collective home stronger, more sustainable, more fair, and better equipped and predisposed to respond to the needs and wants of, and benefit from the perspectives and contributions of, dozens of communities and cultures, including those long here and those more recently coming to us from all. over. the. world. Which brings me back to this morning and the tears that ran down my face and the breath that left my body when I felt the slow, long, righteous arc of the moral universe bending yet again as I filled in the bubble for, hopefully, the first female president of the United States. I last felt that way in 2008 when I voted for the first African-American president in the history of our republic, and am grateful and humbled that I can experience it again. Bottom line, voting is easy in Miami-Dade County. And important. Go vote!

Geniusofdespair said...

Thank you for the thoughtful comments.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday!

From Hialeah said...

I try and vote on election day. There is less chance of fraud and more vigilant bystanders on that day. Absentee and early voting could also discourage some voters, because the media gets too hyped up on both sides (there doesn't seem to be a happy middle anymore). The only real and final results come Tuesday evening or in the early Wednesday hours. I also believe that election fraud is real, especially with absentee ballots and the deceased or duplicate voting. Absentee should be reserved for veterans, disabled, elderly, sick or those who are traveling or working out of town or overseas. I would agree with early voting starting the Friday prior and running through election day, but not two weeks prior. Once we can vote online, then real fraud will happen.

Vote on election day . . . The government should declare half day of pay at work for anyone with a voting receipt.

Anonymous said...

Declare a 1/2 day paid holiday to encourage voting-good idea.
Wait until Election Day.
Bad idea.
More bad Lines.
More bad people trying to obstruct the vote.
More bad issues about being at the wrong Precinct, especially since locations change this time around.
More bad issues about change of address and thus wrong Precinct.