I VOTED!

OK, everybody, I voted. Mailed in the ballot today. No more decisions, choices, questions.

And especially no more TV ads to watch. Not that I did watch them anyway. Oh, the glories of DVRs and skipping forward.

I had long ago decided my candidate for President. On the whole, I tend to vote by party platform. Of course, moving down here here recently, there were a lot of never-heard-ofs on the ballot. And some with no party affiliation. And that's just the candidates. There were also options to raise taxes and legalize marijuana.

Lucky me on several counts. I know long time residents who are politically plugged in and share most of my values. (Maybe all, but not every question has been asked.) If they didn't know, like in the long judges columns - yes, plural - they knew where to go to find out, say, who was rated poorly by their peers. Or who might rule in controversial ways.

I also had a door knocker who was passing out party information, including a listing of candidates for non partisan positions who were allied with her party platform. I'm not saying which party was represented, but it was useful information with which to base my own decisions. So thanks for taking those two minutes of my time.

Oh, and thanks for asking which is my most important local issue I'd like to see addressed and in what way. I told her that with global warming, the natural climate and the added drought, we ought to start getting rid of grass lawns down here and remember that water is a limited resource, even more so with the explosive growth in the area. If California can do it....

You may have heard about the lines up to 5 hours for those wanting to vote in the presidential primary down here in Arizona. I was already on the "Permanent Early Voter" list, so I get my ballots mailed our for all elections. A lot more voters signed up after that for that list. So rather than waiting around for hours, I have days to study the ballot, research candidates and issues, and still get my ballot in well before the election.

This part of Arizona voting I like.

The only down side, as I see it, is I no longer get an "I VOTED" sticker to wear.