Mern Þonke

Polls in the California Special Election have been open for less than two hours, and there are already problems. My wife and I went to our usual polling station to find it closed with a note providing a number to call to find out where to vote. The recorded message we received when we called the number directed us to a local Mexican restaurant, which also had signs telling us that the polling station was closed. A concerned citizen had posted another sign directing us to a Jeep dealership about a half a mile away, where, at last, we found an open polling station--which did not look very busy. We gave lift to another voter who had come to the Mexican restaurant and probably spent almost a half an hour getting to the right location. Although I work from home today, my wife had to get to work, and she might have just thrown in the towel after the second closed polling station. These circumstances are bound to produce a low voter turnout, and, by all accounts, a low turnout will help the propositions sponsored by Arnold Schwarzenegger. This creates a deeply disturbing scenario. For an election which Schwarzenegger himself is billing as "Judgement Day", we cannot afford to have the electoral process tainted by the disenfranchisement of voters. If these problems are occurring in my comfortable and affluent West Los Angeles neighbourhood, I wonder what is happening in poorer areas. It is the Presidential election all over again.

Please, if you are reading this and have not yet voted, find your polling station (whatever the obstacles) and make your opinion heard. The issues (some of which I have discussed here) are too important to stay away from. You can find your local polling station here (and the web site does seem to be accurate).