What a mess, slow vote to China

by Duf Politics, Rants

Wow the pictures of the damage from Sandy are pretty horrific, especially the Atlantic City and NYC images.

The most serious of all the problems appears to be in NYC’s subway system.  The 108 year old subterranean transit grid is flooded from floor to ceiling in many areas.

If the flood water was rain water that would be a pain in the ass and serious.  However this is corrosive salt water which even after it is pumped away can have devastating effects on mechanical and electrical equipment.  I simply can not imagine the scope of headaches facing those in charge of getting the system back up and running.

In related news, Ali decided to cancel her trip to NYC to run the marathon.  Partly because of this disaster.  The likelihood of them having mass transit functional in time for this weekends marathon seems impossible.  I was very surprised that at least yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg said the marathon is still a go.  The good news is Ali will have automatic entry into next year’s race and will have plenty of time to make sure she is ready to perform at her best.  Instead she will be using the planned time off to visit her family.

Early voting started in Florida on Saturday.  The lines have been miles long with some people waiting upwards of an hour to vote.  We have an early voting location right next door and the lines snaked out the door for the majority of the day yesterday.

Part of the reason for this is the stupid, stupid decision to go backwards and utilize paper ballots.  The entire process is just slow.  They only had two people checking voters in which is far too few in a presidential election year.   Checking in requires you to hand over your drivers license while a volunteer senior citizen slowly enters your info.  Then you sign your name and they hand you a ticket that allows you to vote.

Next you go into the actual voting room where you again wait while the long 3 page ballot is printed out.  You then take that ballot to one of the flimsy tables with thin cardboard “walls” and start filling in circles like we did back in 1974.  It just seems ridiculous that we still vote this way.

Anyway I went next door first thing this morning and voted so I managed to avoid the massive lines.  I did my small part.  Hopefully it makes a difference.