I Voted on Tuesday

Here's some exciting news:

I voted on Tuesday...and my vote counted.

That's right. Michigan insisted they could not POSSIBLY hold a do-over election. It would be too complex and costly.

Guess what. There was an election this last Tuesday. All of the infrastructure was already there. I went in, poll workers welcomed me (by name, thank you very much). I got a little "I voted" sticker and everything.

There was one contested race on my ballot, a whole bunch of uncontested races, and two school millages. I'm a childless gay man. I have no kids to benefit from the public schools. But I truly believe that a free democracy depends on universal and quality public education. So I voted to keep taxing myself. This tax is not a "tax burden". It is a public investment. (And both millages passed).

And my candidate in the one contested race lost. So be it. That is democracy in action. They counted my vote and everyone else's and the majority wins. Even if only 8.4% of eligible voters turn out, we count ALL the votes.

Sadly, America is getting away from that concept. We saw it in Florida and the nation in 2000. And I still wonder what the heck happened in Ohio in 2004.

Perhaps it is time for me to revive my plan for Ann Arbor to secede from the Union. The original plan was proposed about ten years ago. Chris Kolb kept running for mayor, and Ingrid Sheldon kept beating him by fairly narrow margins. I proposed a parliamentary monarchy. Since (at the time) Ingrid seemed to be our permanent mayor I proposed that she become Queen Ingrid the First of the Grand Duchy of Ann Arbor. Chris was the policy wonk, so he would become the first Prime Minister.

I proposed a zero defense budget. I counted on our one-way streets to confuse any invading army into submission.

I made no provisions for chickens.


Do you think we need chickens in Ann Arbor? Should we secede? And when was the last time you felt your vote counted?