I went and voted yesterday. I also found out that when you change the address on your driver’s license this does not change the address on your voter registration. This is why I wound up at the Addison fire station, only to be sent out to Farmers Branch, which during normal hours is not that far, but I was in the thick of evening traffic. Even more insulting was the fact that in Addison the line was short (three people) but over in Farmers Branch, they had twelve precincts (I think that is the right number… I heard someone say twelve… maybe not that many but it felt like more) in one location. They had two lines going – one was short and for people with last names M-Z, and one long line for the A-L’s. Guess which one I was in? The short line was not short like the one in Addison, but compared to the one I was in, it was tiny.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if the people in front of and behind me didn’t feel the need to talk to one another, causing them to talk around me. This was only secondary to the people behind me that insisted on standing too close, and therefore making me want to crawl out of my skin. One woman kept breathing real hard, and directly on the back of my neck. Being on the cusp of flu season, the whole thing just felt dirty to me.

Speaking of dirt, I then get inside… and saw someone from a place I used to work. This someone has an aversion to bathing. He was now working at this polling location, and even though I did not smell the body odor coming from his direction, he was keeping his arms down. I did however smell his dirty person stench, and you could see how filthy his hair was. The library folks are going to have to set fire to the chair he was using, or melt it down or something. After yesterday, anything he came in contact with should be considered ruined. Where I used to work there was a reason for the empty, one cube radius around him. I could not tell how many days prior to yesterday this guy had showered, but since he wasn’t clearing the room, I am guessing not more than two weeks, but I am still not sure.

I voted against everything. One issue by mistake, but I was sure that one would pass so it was no big deal. I meant my vote against proposition 2. I consider myself a conservative on some things, and more liberal on others. I think most of the people that voted for it did not even read the whole thing… like the parts that will eventually be challenged in court, and most likely be ruled unconstitutional, therefore overturning the whole amendment. Proponents speaking about it were very proud of the wording, calling it airtight. Bah. I have underwear with smaller holes than that (not that all my undies have holes… I should probably get rid of any that do… kind of like how Texas will eventually be getting rid of that new amendment when a federal court tells them to do so).

Even though people understood the proposition concerning lifting the cap on interest rates for commercial loans, they did not understand the one about reverse mortgages. Honestly, neither do I (at least not completely) but I knew enough that it sounded better to me to vote against it. Why bother handing companies something that will allow (not to mention encourage) them to take advantage of senior citizens?

I finally walked out of there at 8pm, tired and feeling in need of a bath. There is much to be said for early voting – just do it.