VOTE (quickly)

My guess is that urging people to vote in this year’s election is “preaching to the choir” -- so, I won’t bother. Voters have turned out in record numbers across the country to vote early. Yet, there is the possibility that there may still be record numbers remaining to vote on Tuesday.

I believe that diversity is a good thing. Too much agreement often leads to sloppy thinking; disagreement leads to better decisions. Partly to encourage this diversity of thought, my completed ballot is often a hodgepodge of democrats, republicans, and an occasional minor party candidate or two. In the past, this has meant that I have often spent an inordinate amount of time in the voting booth. Recently, my hogging the voting booth has not been a problem since there have always been open booths available for the voters behind me.

However, this year, to do my part in speeding things along, I will be filling out a sample ballot beforehand. I have already spent more than 20 minutes completing my sample ballot. That’s 15 minutes less that I will need to spend in the booth. If you are a “booth hog” like me, as a courtesy to those behind you, I urge you to plan ahead and make your decisions before, not while, you’re in the booth – especially if you’re in line ahead of me.