Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's off to vote I go

I have the day off, so I'm heading over to my local precinct to take part in this glorious experiment in Democracy.

From what I've heard, there's been quite a bit of experimentation this year. ACORN deserves a special nod. It has shown a great deal of enthusiasm, not to say imagination, in its quest to find the underrepresented voters of this country and give them a voice.

Senator Obama has been refining the process of gathering donations. Though his experiment with the honor system has led to one embarrassing incident where he had to give the money back.

But isn't it nice to know that someone who is a hair's breadth away from the Oval Office is so willing to trust? So willing to reinterpret our stuffy old ideas about this Republic?

So I'm off to do my part. I found a list of the candidates and questions which will be on my ballot.

Let's see. President. Wow, SIX different choices. I only knew about three of them.

Senator. Three choices, Democrat, Republican and Libertarian. Do I vote my conscience or vote someone who has even a slightly realistic chance of unseating the incumbent?

Moving on. Representative in Congress. My district. One. Democrat. Running unopposed. Not much of a vote there. Hmmm.... Out of ten districts, there are six running unopposed. All Democrats. Oh well, at least a lot of people will get practice filling in the little ovals thoroughly. Don't do that much after SATs.

Councillor(that's the way it's spelled on the site. My spell check says it's wrong, but I'll leave it). My district. One. Democrat. Running unopposed. There are eight districts here (why less than the Reps? It's a mystery, like why hot dogs come in packs of ten and buns in eight. Same numbers? Coincidence?).

I check. Out of eight districts, seven are running unopposed. All Democrats running for reelection. At least my state's saved a lot in campaign financing. Hope they didn't run up too many bills for posters and print ads.

Senator in General Court. My county. One. Democrat running for reelection.

A quick glance at the other counties reveals some races between two candidates. Nice to see the Socialist Workers Party has a candidate running in one of our capitol's districts. They are so underrepresented here.

Representative in General Court. This is more interesting. There are three different county districts for my city. Two of them are Democrats running unopposed, but one has a race. It's between the Democrat incumbent, and the other guy's listed as unenrolled and I've never heard of him. I've also forgotten which of the three I'm in. But that's okay. There's a place to check it. I did. I'm not in the district with the two candidates. Darn.

There are a few more minor categories, but you get the picture. I won't have to make too many tough decisions, aside from the most important one of all.

Then there are the ballot questions. The first one is a proposed law to eliminate the state income tax. The other two questions say they are, respectively, an "act" and an "initiative." So are any of them binding? I read online, and can't find the article, where someone in the state government said if Question One passed, it wasn't going to be implemented.

So does that mean it's not binding? Or it should be, but they've left themselves a loophole?

At least I'll have done my patriotic duty. It's a great day for Democracy in Danny-on-the-Wold.