November 3, 2020 was Election Day in the United States of America. I voted--although I did have misgivings about both candidates (one more than the other). Neither candidate seemed to want to address my primary issued, which at this time, I will withhold. My reasoning is not the issue of this blog.
Nevertheless, I did vote because the Presidential Candidates were not all there was to the ballot. There were congressmen, senators, judges, prosecutors and propositions. These seats affect our daily lives no matter who is President. I carefully went up and down the the ballot, made my choices and cast my ballot. I definitely took my time because the State of Texas eliminated Straight-ticket voting for this election. Straight-ticket voting is where one box that represents your desired political party is checked. Upon checking this box, all candidates in that Party are selected. This makes it easier when you only want to vote for the candidates of the same party. I would think that, in this age of Covid, that it would have helped with alleviating long lines and be a great help with keeping people safe as people who chose Straight Ticket would be able to cast their ballots much quicker. Some voting rights activists coined the elimination of the Straight Ticket ballot as a form of voter suppression, which is a real problem in the South, and in this state in particular.
I voted early to save time, and I did, as there wasn't a line at the polling place I voted at. Early voting in Texas afforded several options, especially in the larger municipalities. In addition to the varied places such as schools, churches, and libraries, there was drive-through voting and mail-in ballots. Of course the latter two drew controversy and court challenges as opposers started yelling the "F-word": FRAUD. In the end, the Governor of Texas only allowed 1 maildrop per county, even in big cities like Houston and Dallas! I chose not to use the mail-in ballots and let others know, as I didn't trust it as it was reported that many maildrops were moved, missing or destroyed. Even drive-through polling places were challenged in Texas' largest county. The County Clerk held out to Election Day and got in front of a possible court decision that could have thrown out 127,000 votes that had already been cast by closing all but one of the drive-through polling locations. I feel like the County Clerk got "punked" because the courts that allowed the Governor to remove all but one maildrop per county actually decided in favor of all of the drive-through ballots...go figure.
This has been some kind of election, and as of today, it still is not quite over. According to the news, the challenger for President has been declared the winner even though there are some votes that still remain to be counted as well as the decision of the Electoral college that has not been made. Our President refuses to concede, and the challenger/news-announced President-Elect has not been able to transition.
We'll see what happens by December 14! Until then, I'll carry on: business as usual!
