I voted I voted

[likethebeer]

I ended up voting straight-party ticket, but that's ok, b/c I was for every Dem that was on the ballot. I was unable to come up with a write-in candidate for the coroner, unfortunately, so nobody gets my vote in that case.

I voted no on the gay marriage ban and no on the death penalty.

Surprising, I know.

I have heard that the gay marriage ban was pretty close, last told. I'm thinking it may go through. It's gone through every time it's been brought up to vote. Edit: Except in Arizona, where it was also up for vote last night. sigh. I like this state! Why do they have to do this?

Here's something I heard this morning regarding the death penalty: Wisconsin was not only the first state in the union to ban the death penalty; Wisconsin was the first legislative body in the world to ban the death penalty. As mda said, to vote for the death penalty offends not only his morals, but his sense of history. I have my feelings about it, and I wrote a whole thing about it, but have decided not to post it, b/c it's just nasty. Edit: Turns out that person was wrong, so don't listen to me. Read low_delta's reply below.

mda noted that 2 people came in today to buy liquor where he's been working and the both said the same thing when they bought their beer: that they bought it thinking of the vote, and it would be either for consolation or celebration. Then I remembered what coconuthead said: "I love voting so much. I think I'll go out afterwards and buy a beer to celebrate democracy. On Wednesday when the election is over and democracy has let me down once again, I can go out and buy myself a consolation beer." It's a trend, huh? Or maybe it's just because I like the beer.

Why is it that I get a kick out of voting? I don't know if it's the concept of my voice being heard, because there's always that thing in the back of my mind that questions whether the Diebold machines will determine our rulers. Maybe it has to do with me using this power, or just doing something big. I still get the thrill of doing something that I could do from, shit, 1986 (although I didn't vote in the mid-term race that year; I don't think I even knew that there was such a thing as a mid-term election, although I did take those social studies classes in grade school).

Comments

[semerkhet.livejournal.com]

Just to shake things up, I voted for the Green Party candidate for State Treasurer.

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

My tv only gets one channel, and that's airing some stupid show with fbi dudes and terrorists and some creepy dude marrying a teenage girl. I'm upset that I can't watch election night coverage. I love election night coverage even though it is tiresome and repetitive most of the time. So instead, I have to obsessively check the KELOland and P&D websites in the hopes that something will happen.

I like the physical process of voting because it's like taking a test, only there's no way to pass. I like getting to say no to things (and there were many things to say no to on this year's ballot). There were no machines here, just a paper ballot with ovals on it that I filled in with a thick gray pencil. I sat in a little cubicle disturbingly close to my fellow citizens. When I was done, I slid my ballot into a wooden box. It was awesome.

I like the idea of voting because I get to tell the government what I think (at least, as far as that can be expressed in the filling in of little ovals). It also appeals to me because it's so Adult.

Ohhh MAN! KELO went from 1% to 3-4% of precincts reporting, and now everything's changed -- the abortion and gay marriage bans are losing, and the medical marijuana is lookin' good.

I love the torture that is election night.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

We're listening to Wisconsin Public Radio right now, bringing in partial analysis as to what's going on, but I still don't understand what's going on at the moment.

I got in to vote and they told me "just go around the corner" and there, next to the kitchen sink, I voted. They told me it was because they didn't want people standing in line. So, yeah, I got everything Including The Kitchen Sink when I voted.

I worry about the idea of taking a test, because I might get it wrong and not even know it!

I don't even know if we have a medical marijuana law. If we've got one, that must have been one of the elections I missed.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I wondered who the Green Party candidate for State Treasurer was.

Why do you hate freedom?

looks like we voted for the gay marriage ban and against anything resembling rights for civil unions. Not like you can get civil unions in this state, anyway.

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

Radio? MY GOD, WOMAN! You're a genius!
(why do I ALWAYS forget about radio!)

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I think it must be that "Old Timey" radio that I listen to. You go, Johnny Dollar!

[huckfinn.livejournal.com]

politics drive me nuts when i don't win.

i feel so let down by my kin tonight.

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

I just figured out that my bartender is one of the political commentators on Mix 106 here. Awesome!

Ah yes, the insurance investigator with the action-packed expense account.

[sirreal13.livejournal.com]

Wisconsin was the first legislative body in the world to ban the death penalty.

I hadn't heard that, but it makes sense with all the progressive German immigrants from the 1848-1853 time period.

CNN just projected that the Dems are in control of the House of Representatives.... YAY!!!!!!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

from Wikipedia:

Abolitionism in different countries

Although the death penalty was briefly banned in China between 747 and 759, modern opposition to the death penalty stems from the book of the Italian Cesare Beccaria Dei Delitti e Delle Pene ("On Crimes and Punishments"), published in 1764. In this book, Beccaria aimed to demonstrate not only the injustice, but even the futility from the point of view of social welfare, of torture and the death penalty. Influenced by the book, Grand Duke Leopold II of Habsburg, famous enlightened monarch and future Emperor of Austria, abolished the death penalty in the then-independent Granducato di Toscana (Tuscany), the first permanent abolition in modern times. On November 30, 1786, after having de facto blocked capital executions (the last was in 1769), Leopold promulgated the reform of the penal code that abolished the death penalty and ordered the destruction of all the instruments for capital execution in his land. In 2000 Tuscany's regional authorities instituted an annual holiday on November 30 to commemorate the event. The event is also commemorated on this day by 300 cities around the world celebrating the Cities for Life Day.

In 1849, the Roman Republic became the first country to ban the capital punishment in its constitution. Venezuela abolished the death penalty in 1863 and Portugal did so in 1867. The last execution in Portugal had taken place in 1846.

In the United States, the state of Michigan was the first state to ban the death penalty, on March 1, 1847. The 160-year ban on capital punishment has never been repealed, and as such the state is considered to be the first democracy in recorded history to have eliminated capital punishment. Currently, 12 states of the U.S. and the District of Columbia ban capital punishment.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

see below

[sirreal13.livejournal.com]

Thanks to you for your Wikiosity... ;)

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Well, that person I heard on the radio was wrong on both counts! Damn, now I feel like a moron.

[mslilly.livejournal.com]

I think I get a kick out of it just because my inner elementary school student knows she's being a good girl and is getting an 'A' in social studies, and maybe even some extra credit for, you know, knowing what's on the ballot and not playing russian roullette with my civic duty.

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

I love voting too! I actually dress up to vote! :)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

They were close. Mixing up WI for MI? And maybe they heard that it was the first democracy to ban it, and thought that meant "government." *shrug*

I always liked those Michiganders.