Voting Silly!

Paradigm for a new hero: voting is sexy! Voter turnout? HOT. Waiting in line to cast your vote? Oh, I might have to fan myself. Voting makes you uber cool. So if you’re in the US, there’s a little election going on, so head on down and vote. Unless you’re like me, and you voted three weeks ago.

Now: it’s silly time! Enough other sites are going to be uber-reloaded to keep up with voter stats and news, so let’s get goofy. First up? A link from Jo: Jennie Breeden, author of The Devil’s Panties, read Twilight and pretty much nailed many of the subtexts that made me nuts.

Also the whole, “No, *I* care more, ” “No, I care more” crap in the middle.Go on with your bad self, Ms. Breeden.

ETA: There’s more!

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The Link-O-Lator

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  1. ev says:

    I don’t know about voting being sexy, but it is part of civic duty, the way I see it.

    I am also a traditionalist and just don’t believe in the early voting thing- an absentee ballot is one thing. I want the danged machine where I know someone can’t throw my vote out because they don’t like it. having done the election inspector thing, there are some things I just don’t trust.

  2. Lori says:

    I think there’s a story out there waiting to be written where the “meet cute” is that the couple are stuck in the voting line together.  I voted absentee for the first time this year & I’m glad that I did.  The local lines are predicted to be really long.

  3. SB Sarah says:

    I am also a traditionalist and just don’t believe in the early voting thing- an absentee ballot is one thing. I want the danged machine where I know someone can’t throw my vote out because they don’t like it. having done the election inspector thing, there are some things I just don’t trust.

    Given the lines around here – some people are waiting more than two hours – and the fact that Election day is not a day off, I’m all about early voting and voting by absentee ballot.

    My reasoning about the permanent absentee though is very similar to yours. I used to vote in one county with the lever machines, and you pulled this BIG ASS LEVER HANDLE to register your vote, and my GOD what a racket. The solid echoing KAAAA CHUNKAH! proved you had voted. Plus the levers would reset themselves so it was like a percussion of confirmation.

    Now, in my county, there are these quasi-digital machines where you have to feel around under the candidates name for a button hidden behind the ballot overlay, and a tiny green light appears once your vote is cast, then you have to press another little button on the right side to confirm your vote, and it’s not at all satisfactory, and in my never-humble opinion not at all secure. It’s too easy to mess up – to say nothing of the fact that every time I’ve voted since I moved to the town I live in now, the machine has been different.

    My thinking was, my SAT scores, with the #2 pencil and the paper, were plenty secure, and there’s a record that my vote was recorded. If it wasn’t, I have proof I mailed it, and a copy of my ballot, plus a photograph of it. I’ll follow up and raise hell. But I was a lot more comfortable with paper and a pencil than a little green light from a hidden button.

    Not to mention that I don’t have time to stand in line for 2+ hours. My commute is already over an hour.

    But that said, I still think voting is sexy – because voter turnout today means you stand in line and are dedicated to your purpose, and in a hero, that is some hot, hot stuff right there. In a generation flush with apathy and feelings of disenfranchisement, seeing people get together to wait in line in groups, bringing snacks and making a party out of it is just fabulous.

    Ok. I’m long winded. In a comment! How rare! Time to shut up now.

  4. Cinde Morris says:

    I voted october 21, 2008 and I had no problem voting early. Someone could have just as easily lost my abesentee ballot inthe mail, at least I saw my inked in voting sheet go int oteh machine. Good enough for me! And no one in my state has an excuse not to vote, we don’t even have voter registration!

  5. Joanna says:

    yay me!
    Jennie Breeden is also a fan of Tamora Pierce, and Tamora Pierce is a fan of Jennie Breeden. Jennie did a comic about when they met… it was fun.

  6. JaneyD says:

    THANK YOU!

    She nailed—so to speak—exactly what’s wrong with those books!

    The fact that they’re so popular with teen girls is a scary indication that parents aren’t prepping their daughters for a big, nasty dangerous world. Their self esteem is ignored so they go looking for validation elsewhere.

    Mine sure didn’t inform me I was a cool person and had the right to be happy, so the first guy who said he sort of liked me got me hooked on his horrible self.

    I was in a miserable 13-year relationship filled with humiliation, constant verbal abuse, and finally physical abuse, but I stuck it out because the SOB said “I love you” just often enough. I was terrified of being on my own, and he played on that.

    Thank God I got enough therapy to make me see what kind of sick, manipulating slave-keeping monster I was married to. Suddenly being on my own became a desirable option and I made it happen.

    But here’s Meyer saying, “As long as he loves you anything he does is just peachy, so count your lucky stars, girl!”

    Gag.

    I’m sure Ike Turner said the same thing to Tina every night when he beat her up.

    Meyer—do teen girls a favor and have Bella kicking Edward’s glittering vampire ass out the door, then have her change the locks.

    But I rather suspect that Bella will get knocked up and be going through even more angsty situations all for lurrrrv.

    Y’gotta ask yourself: What Would Buffy Do?

    Oh, yeah, she did. Sent horrible Angelus straight to hell.

    Yay, Joss Whedon.

    What a sad state of affairs it is when a man writes a strong female character who does the right thing to her abuser.

  7. phinea says:

    I have never been to The Devil’s Panties. OMG I love it!!! I have spent most of the morning reading the comics. I stopped reading to go vote.

  8. Marianne McA says:

    The fact that they’re so popular with teen girls is a scary indication that parents aren’t prepping their daughters for a big, nasty dangerous world. Their self esteem is ignored so they go looking for validation elsewhere.

    My middle daughter and her friends love these books, so obviously I’d be inclined to reject that idea, because it paints me as a bad mum.

    But, I have to say, it doesn’t ring true to me. The girls I personally know who have loved the book don’t seem to have self-esteem problems, nor to lack familial support.

    And, looking back, I read a lot of bad romance in my teens where the heroes tended to womanise, lack a sense of humour, and treated the heroine like dirt until the last ten pages.

    None of that ever made me feel that those were qualities I’d want in a partner – nor, as far as I can tell, influenced my real life behaviour at all.

    My theory about Twilight is that it appeals to a particular stage of development – where girls practice what it might be like to be in love by fixating on some safe love object – my daughter-who-loves-Edward also loves Neville, Prince Caspian, Merlin (from the BBC series), Robin Hood (from the BBC series), James MacAvoy(can’t argue with her there) etc., etc.

    Her values as she grows up are bound to be affected by the culture that surrounds her – but I’m always dubious of the claims that a particular book will have a specific effect on a child – that a love of Harry Potter will lead them to Wicca, or that a love of Twilight will encourage them to accept unacceptable behaviour.

  9. Tracy Wolff says:

    I’m with you, Sarah—I think voting is very sexy.  I voted this morning—the lines were only about half an hour, but my hubby just called me and said they’re telling him about ninety minutes right now.  Of course, he’s standing there, waiting to vote.  Very sexy 😉

  10. ev says:

    2nd try-

    It took us a total of 5 minutes to get in the machine, make our choices and get out. No lines, at least for our district. Half the wait here was people not knowing what district they are in so they go to the first one and start there.

    At this point it doesn’t matter to me who wins (they never keep their promises since there is so much more to it that saying they will do something)- but it is watching Democracy in Action.

    And bringing the kids to see how it really works so they know the importance of it as they grow up.

    We are still using the old machines, thank god, they still work even when the power goes off, unlike the new computerized ones. Has anyone see the machine for the disabled? You either need to use a joy stick, foot control, breath control or pray. My mom has been an inspector for over 30 years and is just not looking forward to today. The training on them was minimal. Glad my county is still using the good old fashioned ones. Once they go to the computerized ones like the ones described above, may mean I head to an early/absentee ballot myself.

    Sometimes progress sucks. I like that loud thunk of a vote cast and the curtain opening. It always feels like I have accomplished something.

  11. DLSschmidt says:

    Only took about an hour here.  In preparation for a much longer wait, I’d downloaded a particularly hot little romance onto the Kindle, and have to admit in some shame that I wish the line had been just a teeny bit longer… 🙂  Between the IPod and the Kindle, (and FINALLY getting to vote for my candidate!) that trip around the local school perimeter was downright joyful.

  12. JaneyD says:

    Thank you, Marianne McA!

    You’ve reminded me that not everyone’s had to play the kind of cards I’d been dealt. My view is skewed, I know.

    My mom drilled into my head that some day a man would come along who would “put up with m,” but it wasn’t likely, since I was no bargain. If it happened, hang onto him like grim death or else be alone, which was the worst fate, ever, for a woman. Above all, don’t be picky.

    I got no praise, as it would have given me a “big head.” If I bought something I’d wasted money, if I saved, I was a tightwad. I was too fat or too thin, and never, ever right about anything. No one hugged me or mentioned I was loved, but teasing until I was in tears was okay.  The only thing I became perfect for was a hideous co-dependent relationship, and boy, did that tool I married ever deliver.

    I am better now, don’t hate men, am open to loving and being loved, and worked hard to turn myself into a kind, unbigoted person she’d have never recognized from the twisted pile of misery she’d raised.

    I wish you’d been my mom. You’ve got brains and balance, which was not present in my life back then. I hope your kids know how lucky they are!

    Fellow bitches, sorry for the self-pity rant. It’s over now. I plead lack of sleep and low blood sugar.

    Oh, yeah—I voted! It is a turn on.

  13. SB Sarah says:

    JaneyD: In case no one has told you today, I think you rule. And not just because you voted – but because you got out from under some abusive bullshit. Good for you. Kick ass and take names.

  14. JaneyD says:

    Girl,  you’re gonna make me cry!  You all rule, too.

    Hugs all around.

    I’m able to hug people now.

    On a good day. When I’m not twitching too much! 

    ;>)

  15. Poison Ivy says:

    Congrats and hugs to all who dumped the wrong man. And who stay away from toxic relatives and relationships. We deserve better.

    I could have early voted but I wanted to see what it was like today. Very different from other years. Major turnout in the morning. Everybody standing in line, being pleasant to one another. And nobody talking about who they’d be voting for. Which avoided fistfights in the school hall.

    “between 39” and 99

  16. SonomaLass says:

    My 23-year-old son called me at 8:30 this morning, in tears, to tell me the latest exit poll results.  They were tears of joy; he’s a sensitive young man, and he has hope in “the system” for the first time in his adult life.  I’m gonna go vote now—I just had to come home and take off my VERY partisan t-shirt and buttons before getting within 100 feet of the polling place!

  17. Becky says:

    I went at noon and was able to walk right in- no line at all.  I talked to a couple of the volunteers, and they said it was a mad house this morning.  I’m guessing from all the predictions of heavy turn out, everyone thought lunch would be too busy so they picked another time.  Works for me!  Early voting was really popular around here, so that probably took some of the pressure off, too.

    I did hit one small snag.  They couldn’t find my name on the list.  I thought for a minute that I wasn’t going to be allowed to vote.  Turns out, when my apartment complex changed it’s name six months ago it messed up something in the voter registry.  No one at my complex was on the original printed list.  The guy in charge knew what was going on as soon as he saw my registration card and was able to get it corrected.  Hooray for knowledgable election people! 

    I love voting.  The poll workers are always so cheerful and happy to see you.  Even the people waving signs and handing out literature were nice at my polling place.  They thanked me for voting as I left, even though I told them I already knew who I was voting for and didn’t take their brochures, and then I didn’t vote for their candidates.  Although I didn’t tell them that.  (I must look like a Republican.  Maybe it’s the new hair cut?)

  18. Marianne McA says:

    That’s so kind.

    I’ve my fair share of unbalanced days though: I think we all do.

    (I’m excited about the election result – and I live in the UK. I’m so tempted to stay up and watch the first returns, even though I know I would regret it in the morning.)

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