1001: An Election Odyssey

For the 1,001st time, I'm committing my thoughts to the internet. That's right... this is the 1001st post that the Sportslady has made to Postcards From Columbus.

Tonight, I wasn't so much of a Sportslady, though. I was assigned election duties in the newsroom. On the one hand, it kind of sucked. I had a lot of work to do, and I got none of it done. That means I'll have to come in on my day off to catch up.

On the other hand, it was pretty cool. Sure, most of the time I was sitting at my desk, waiting for the phone to ring, and then calculating results and percentages. But I actually felt like I was part of the democratic process... even though I was just plugging numbers into a computer.

Voting, on the other hand, didn't make me feel good at all. For the first time in the five presidential elections since I turned 18, I don't live in a "battleground" state. Let's face it. Bush got nearly 60% of the vote in Georgia. Because of the electoral college system, no matter who I'm voting for in the presidential elections in Georgia, my vote doesn't make a difference.

But in Missouri and Michigan, at least the votes are close. Very close, in the case of the Great Lakes State. And I can't even tell you how cool it would be to live in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Here's my proposal: In the presidential elections, citizens should have to vote in whatever state they lived in during the previous census. After all, the census regulates distribution of electoral votes. Doesn't it kind of make sense?

Sure, a lot of people would have to vote using absentee ballots. At the same time, the people who really cared about the election would be willing to do that.

I'm rambling now. My head is swimming with red and blue states.