I voted

Another election drifts into the filmy past.
And with it, I hope, the blizzard of political mailings that clogged our mailbox.
And the forest of political signs that cluttered lawns and every corner where traffic might have to slow.
This area is not as bad as southern California, where I visited a few years ago.
I drove our rental into a suburban development to turn around, and some houseowner had a giant flashing marquee on his front lawn amidst a forest of signage.
It was at least 12 by eight feet.
“Vote for whoever,” it screamed; “who supports Arnold Schwarzenegger, the greatest Governor this state ever had.”
(Weren’t they saying the same thing about Ronald Reagan?)
A couple years ago a small sign for Eric Massa (“MAH-suh”) occupied a corner about a mile from our house.
It stayed there almost a year after the election, which had been won by incumbent Randy Kuhl (“Cool”).
We drove yesterday to the West Bloomfield Fire Department, our new polling-place since the Town Hall had been condemned.
Utterly mal-informed, as usual.
I have voted in nearly every election since college (late ‘60s).
Only missed a couple.
One was after my stroke (I was in the hospital), and it seems there was one just recently, where I ran out of time.
It was an off-year election. I’ve never missed one for president.
We even did the absentee ballot thing once, because we’d be on vacation on Election-Day.
That was Jimmeh Cah-duh.
I studied the ballot on our clunky old election machines.
Is this the best we can do with our fabulous technology?
On the other hand, maybe the old clunkers are more reliable.
If our cars were as reliable as our whiz-bang computers, drivers would be randomly stopped on shoulders scratching their heads.
“Oh well, what the heck?” I said to myself.
I pulled all the Democratic levers.
It’s always like this.
That was including the incumbent West Bloomfield Supervisor, who I wondered about after that proposed sweetheart land purchase.
We (the Town) voted that down, after we got it on the ballot.
Yet despite that I can’t vote REPUBLICAN.
Furthermore, their candidates are stridently against consolidation with East Bloomfield.
It’s at least worth considering.
“Throw the bums out,” a coworker said, referring to Bill Clinton.
“Replace ‘em with another set of bums,” I said.
It’s always Congress sucks, except my Congressman.
“Seems ya gotta be wacko to run for president,” my wife says.

• “This area” is where we live, in the small rural town of West Bloomfield in Western N.Y., southeast of Rochester.
• “Eric Massa,” a Democrat, is our current Congressman. He replaced “Randy Kuhl,” a Republican, who was our previous Congressman, a long-time incumbent.
• The previous West Bloomfield Town Hall, an old church-building, had been condemned due to dry-rot. The Town Hall was our previous polling-place.
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993.
• RE: “Sweetheart land purchase.....” —Some time ago a farmer donated a field to West Bloomfield in honor of his deceased son, who had played there. Since the Town Hall was condemned, the town needed land to build a new Town Hall, so they negotiated a land purchase to buy land adjacent to the donated park. The land-value negotiated was well over the going price-per-acre.
• RE: “We (the Town) voted that down, after we got it on the ballot.......” —The proposed land purchase got put on the ballot last year as a proposal. We could vote for or against.
• RE: “Consolidation with East Bloomfield......” —East Bloomfield is the town adjacent to West Bloomfield. New York State has suggested consolidating the two, but most West Bloomfielders are against; even Democrats. (Within the Town of East Bloomfield is the village of Bloomfield; fairly substantial.)
• My wife of almost 42 years is “Linda.”