It’s Primary Day in Texas
It’s cold, wet, and a great day for ducks in Texas. We had sleet thunder in Richmond last night and then a little thundersnow for fun.
It’s also primary voting day. I’ll be live blogging election results tonight until I give up and go to bed. The polls in Austin didn’t open until 11:00 am, so they’ll stay open until 9:00 pm or until everybody is in the hospital from sliding around on ice – whichever comes first.
If you live in Texas, this is why I keep telling you to vote early. If I say it’s Christmas you better buy some little twinkly lights and I say vote early, dammit.
Bubba is going around to the Democratic election workers with bags of goodies because those folks are doing the Lord’s work and get paid almost enough to cover their gas money.
One Republican side election worker asked if she could have a bag and Bubba said, “Oh, I’d give you one but then that would make you dependent on me and I don’t want to do that.” He also added that if the Republican county chairman wasn’t so lazy and cheap, he’d be out doing this, but nooooo ….
One funny incident this morning. This is supposedly a heavily Republican county. However, the GOP couldn’t get enough election workers to work their own primary. So, Democrats are filling-in for the Republicans in about half a dozen precincts. Early this morning, one of our precinct judges was iced-in and couldn’t get to the poll. (She lives way out in the country.) Her Republican counterpart, a city dude, got there and opened it. The county election supervisor asked the Republican if he would do the Democratic election until our worker could get there. He refused. You know, because Democrats have cooties. So, we took one of our workers from her own poll, where she had some workers, and moved her over there with instructions to irritate that sumbitch every chance she got. I’m taking her a harmonica.
My precinct in Austin was open at 7:00 am as usual. That’s when I voted. A few hours later I got an email saying they weren’t opening until 11:00am.
1I know there are exceptions, but Dems seem to feel, “The more, the merrier,” and GOPs seem to feel, “Screw you, Jack, I got mine.” That’s why we have more ethnic restaurants and folksingers. And fun.
2I was bad when I voted this morning. My precinct is solid D and both the guy in front of me and the one behind were voting in the Republican one.
3When the worker asked me which primary I wanted to vote in I replied “Do I look clinically insane?”. She smiled and the two clowns scowled. Made my day.
I voted this morning. There was some poor lady standing the required distance away in a rain suit and heavy coat begging people to vote for some guy in some Pub primary for some Agriculture Land Railroad Precinct Commissioner race. On the way out I heard her tell someone to “please vote for my husband.” I told her that I hoped that Mr. Candidate Hubby appreciated what she was doing. Didn’t tell her that I voted in the Dem primary and her hubby wasn’t on my ballot. I live in Ron Paul and Randy Weber country, where they advertise Rick Huckabee speaking at the First Baptist Church on a big billboard, so I didn’t really want to get into it. It was after all, cold and rainy.
4I just LOVE Election Day: the last minute rush during the weekend for GOTV. The Monday afternoon nap. The Monday evening sign patrol, pacing off 100 feet from the front door of the polling place (your laws may vary). Shennanigans. The 2 AM Denny’s run with the rest of the sign crew, trading signage war stories. Maybe a power nap in the car at 4 AM, though usually just another pot of coffee, please, miss! Arriving at the polling place at 5:30. Setting up. Opening the door, placing the flag out and announcing “the polls are OPEN.” Feeling American.
The morning rush. Any of the good doughnuts left? The midday ennui when that sleep is really missed. Taking time to go vote in my home precinct, feeling American some more. The slow build to the evening rush. “The polls are CLOSED.” Completing all the bureaucracy of democracy. Getting that first tape with the results from the Optiscan machine. Hoping my candidates are ahead in my precincts. Running an extra one to take with me.
Arriving at the party. The buzz of excitment. Getting that first drink OH! I could so lay my head down and sleep. NOT! Checking for the 10th time that the victory cigar is intact and not crumpled into tobacco shakes in my pocket.
Oops, I’m the computer guy – give me those totals folks! Pumping numbers in, running my models. It either looks good! or it looks early. Then it keeps looking good, or it starts looking later.
Elation! High fives for the winners! Victory cigar!
Gut punch! Hugs for the losers. Consolation smoke.
Where’s my scotch? Really? Better give me another then.
The amateurs leave. The candidates take their families home. The last 5 guys – the pros and the pundits – close the place, rehashing, planning for the next one.
Going home, sinking into bed.
Feeling American.
5Good luck with your elections Texas! GO BLUE!!
(Great work on spreading the LaRouche word on Keesha not a Democrat Rogers.)
“Clinically insane.” Perfect description for the gohmerts voting against their own best interests. Voting “R” is akin to a baby seal handing out clubs with which to be beaten.
6Harmonica? Harmonica !! See if you can find a set of Bag Pipes. Extreme irritation particularly in the hands of the untrained. Probably more effective than water boarding.
7Please Lord forgive my sadism.
Because I work for an organization that provides technical support to a neighboring county’s Election department I was at a poll site at 0540 this date. OMG even after consuming medicinal herbs and a quantity of bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid stimulants, 0540 is extraordinarily unpleasant. Inside the poll site there were 8 GOPers and 4 Dems. The Dems were chatty and laid back. The GOPers kept looking at them like they were from another planet and maybe not very sanitary. It was hard to keep from chuckling every time I looked up from my setup duty. BTW the GOPs were uniformly white and old. The Dems included 1 WM, 1 BM, 1 BF and 1AF. The Dem judge was older but still younger than me. One of the others was a high schooler playing hookey with her principal’s permission. This relative youfh gives me some hope for the future. I realize I will likely die in Texas, I just don’t want to die in THIS Texas.
8We’ve voted early in the past. (Texas is so much more convenient that way than Illinois was.) But our precinct polling place is much nearer, emptier, & intimate-feeling. As we crow about being Dems (despite the conventional wisdom that geezers vote conservative) with the youngsters staffing the table, we get listened to by a stern looking Repub @ the next table. Hope he learned a bit about the joy of being lifelong Dems from the two of us. Sorry about ice etc. in Austin. El Paso continues in early spring & pleasant.
9Best blogpost ever.
10Sparkly Christmas lights, your husband with the snacks – perfect!
Jenny
For the first time in ages, I voted on election day just to be contrary. When the lady asked for my drivers license. I smiled and handed her my passport. She couldn’t find the picture so I showed her where it was and then she realized there was no address on it. She had to call for help and the Judge came over and asked me where I lived. I recited the address on the registration card I had just handed her and every one was satisfied. Then she asked me if I wanted to vote in the Democrat primary without even offering the other option. I smiled again and corrected her, “DemocratIC primary” I said. (My mother was an English teacher. I could never use a noun when an adjective was required.) More smiles were exchanged and some people seemed amused that I had to prove my identity but not my address.
And a good time was had by all.
11daChipster: great stream of consciousness description of your election day experiences.
12Steinbeck couldn’t have done it better.
I’m very disappointed in Wendy Davis. I always consult with the answers given by the candidates to the questions provided by the Texas League of Women Voters. Traditionally I refuse to vote for any candidate that can’t be bothered to submit information to this non-partisan group that gets their message out to so many of us. Four of the six contenders for Governor submitted responses. Only one of those was a Democrat and it wasn’t Senator Davis.
If she wins the primary, let’s hope she does better getting her responses in next time. I’m not the only one who follows this paradigm.
13Bubba is such a class act!!
14Mike @3. That’s great. I love it.
15daChipster – wonderful synopsis!
16SusanF – When I saw that Wendy Davis hadn’t submitted answers in my League of Women Voters questionnaire, I got really disgusted. Are they really that disorganized?
17Yeah, not having your answers in the LWV handout gives many of us the impression that the candidate is either disorganized or doesn’t give a flack, and neither possibility increases confidence in their ability to govern. I liked Davis but she is not going about this the right way. I hope she straightens up and her campaign manager ditto.
18Rhea, Marion, it totally gohmerts that as voters we do not have viable or better choices.
But that “lesser of evil” is a ‘thuglican meme meant to divide the Democratic Party from the green and progressive members.
Wendy Davis offers Texas voters an option. Seriously, she may not be the most adroit politician, but she is a huge improvement over the GOP gohmerts.
Given a choice, imperfect Leticia, Maxey and Wendy are far better choices than the proven corrupt, stupid and seriously crazy Stockyard and gohmert Perry failures.
Go Blue, Texas with the best options you have. Beats the gohmert out of voting for proven gohmerts.
19As I told my puzzled cousin who has a Texas flag hanging over her front porch in Utah, Texas is practically ungovernable these days. Back when most Texans lived several miles apart, it was pretty easy to run things, I guess, or so I’ve read. Now that you have all the folks piling on top of each other in big cities, they all still have the stories heard from Great Grandpa about how nobuddy better bother him or he’s gonna blast ’em. New York City was a big city at the same time that native Americans were camping up and down creeks and making arrowheads in Texas and small towns were strung up and down along railroads. Not sure where I’m going with this but we need to give Wendy et al a chance and get rid of the bullies. Feel free to reword this if you care to.
20Demanding perfection in candidates is a prime way to lose elections. It’s the place where PC departs from good manners, thoughtfulness, and care for your neighbors, and becomes a way to feel smug about being better than the imperfect…and a way to alienate people instead of bringing them together.
Which is to say…Wendy Davis on her worst day is better than Greg Abbott on his best, for me. No, she’s not perfect–none of ’em are. But she has a record of action as a Democrat, just like he has as a Republican. That’s where to look. Not that anyone asked, my personal list of Big Ticket items runs like this. “Will this candidate support and work toward gender equality? Will this candidate support and work toward racial equality? Will this candidate work toward ending hunger, homelessness, deep poverty, unmet medical needs? Will this candidate support and work toward sustainable environmental conditions for all?” A candidate and I might disagree on how to get there, but if we have the same goal in mind, I’ll float them one election.
What worries me most is the liars and cheats who can get on a primary ballot by claiming to be Democrats when they aren’t. I wish there were a way to screen candidates for primary places early on–but I realize that could allow a different kind of abuse, where the good ol’ backroom chose who could run. I’m still mad as hops at Ken Anderson (yes, even after his fall from grace in the Michael Morton case) for running as a Democrat for re-election to DA (so I voted for him) and then turning his coat as soon as he got in to declare that his “conscience” (he never had one!) bade him turn Republican.
21Good on Bubba. What a great answer!
22Here in far NW Austin (the part that’s in Williamson County), it was a sight to see: A line of about 8 Democrats voting in the primary and nary a soul at the Republican table. Talk about starting the day with a smile!
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