Half of California’s population is expected to vote by mail this year. I guess I’m in the forefront of a trend. I’ve been a “permanent absentee” voter for several years now, inspired by my sister and brother-in-law, who have been doing it even longer. I’m not really absentee, of course – I’m right at home, not going anywhere. There are definite advantages to completing your ballot at the kitchen table.

I have voted in four different states, and I have never seen a state like California for putting propositions that would make or change the laws directly in the hands of voters. This year’s ballot has twelve statewide ballot initiatives subject to yes-or-no votes, plus various county and city measures depending on where you live. I had thought that the whole concept of “representative government” was based on electing individuals whose job description included creating policy and drafting laws, but it doesn’t seem to work that way here. Then again, considering that the State Assembly doesn’t seem to do much except engage in partisan infighting and hold up budgets for months, maybe there’s justification for not leaving it up to them after all.

(Speaking of ballot initiatives, I posted some of my thoughts about California Proposition 8 over at the Los Angeles Moms Blog a few days ago.)

The twelve propositions on the 2008 statewide ballot actually don’t cover twelve different things, since a couple of them are either similar to or in competition with each other, and although I think they really do try to keep the language clear, it’s hard to avoid legalese. In any case, it takes some time to process all of them, and that’s the main reason I’m glad I vote at home. I can sit down with the voter information booklets and sample ballot I got in the mail and read up on the details and pro/con arguments about each proposition as I work my way through the ballot – it’s like an open-book test, which really isn’t an option when you go to the polls.

Voting for the candidates on the ballot was actually the easy part. I’ve kept myself pretty well-informed on matters related to the presidential election, and no matter how I vote, I have the sense that our incumbents in other positions are pretty well-entrenched anyway. I regret that I’m least informed about the candidates in my local elections. The suburb where I live is really a “bedroom community” for me; I commute into Los Angeles for work every day, my stepkids go to school in the next town over, and our level of civic involvement is sadly low. We don’t even have a good local newspaper. I gleaned what information I could before casting those votes, but I am resolving to do better next time around. After all, you never know when your small-town mayor might end up on a national political ticket…

My county doesn’t have “early voting” yet, so the only way to vote before Election Day is as an absentee. I voted on a Sunday afternoon, ten days before November 4. Technically, I’m not voting by mail, though, since I’ve asked my husband to deliver my ballot for me (in its signed, sealed envelope) when he goes to the polls.

Have you voted yet? Remember, if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about the outcome. (Like that’s ever stopped anyone…) Today’s the day – exercise your right to have a say!

Subscribe to Blog via Email