esrosedotblog

EARLY VOTER

I voted in the California Primary this morning.

4:00 AM

There weren't any flags or balloons.

Just me and a pen and the absentee ballot. And the cheat sheet based on the booklet we got a few weeks ago.

It is depressing. I liked the whir of the machines and the mumble of the crowd. I enjoyed getting my "I voted" sticker.

Alas, that is all over now. They have so many people voting absentee that they have combined precincts and made it more annoying.

So here I was. At home. No whir, no mumble.

Here is what I did.

I voted NO on all the propositions. I usually do this as a default to protest propositions but this time I voted out of conviction too. You have to be careful of the names. They sound good.

There is Prop 13 which would place limits on tax assessment of retrofitting of buildings for earthquakes until the building is sold. NO. It improves the value of the building. Pay now.

Proposition 14 is basically an open primary law. No parties. Anyone can vote for anyone. NO. Actually, this does not create open primaries. It only requires that the name of the party would not be on the ballot. I don't want GOoPers messing with my party. No, goddam it no!

Prop 15, the California Fair Elections Act which would repeal bans on public funding of political campaigns. It would allow the Secretary of State to make grants to individuals who signed off on raising any money. The Con for this is that it is a trick. It raises taxes with no accountability for the expense. It also allows politicians to raise money from special interest groups. NO. Hell, NO.

Proposition 16 imposes a two thirds voter approval for the establishment of local public electricity providers. NO. This is sponsored by the power companies and make it almost impossible for municipalities to build their own power facilities as the City of Los Angeles does. The private companies have spent millions on this campaign. NO. Fuck NO.

Proposition 17 allows auto insurance companies to base their prices in part on a drivers history of insurance coverage. No. This is sponsored by a big insurance company so they can raise insurance premiums as much as a thousand dollars on new customers after an initial switch over from another company discount. NO. I am a member/customer of AAA.

The candidates are the candidates. I voted for Brown as Democratic candidate for Governor, Gavin Newsome as Lt. Governor and Boxer for Senator. I want to see Boxer clean Fiorina's clock! If she is the Rep-nom.

I voted for the Hispanic, the female and the new face (sometimes all in one candidate) for any office I didn't know about. I skipped two because I had no idea at all.

I am all for the amateur Latino women to take over the State.

There were a lot of unopposed candidates. I voted for them anyway.

That is it. The ballot is in the mail with the usual worry that I did something that would invalidate it. There is a hole in the envelope and, somehow, I think that maybe there is something I am supposed to do about that but I can't find anything about it so I didn't do anything but look through it. Worries like that.

The primary date is June 8th so I have plenty of time to await results.

Labels: election