Big nite

And a heartbreaking one in some ways. This is as the polls closed, at a judge race party. Two good candidates ran, which is a blessing as that sure does not happen that often, but that the opponent was an incumbent was too much for Jim to overcome. It was very disappointing.
This is at the end of the nite---Jenna, me, Mike and Rita. Jenna works for this candidate, so things have been very tense in their world lately.
This is our new State's Attorney accepting congratulations calls last nite. The margin was slim, at only an 80 vote difference, with 126 absentee votes still out, but a win is a win.
I am pretty sure this is not his phone with all the pretty colors on it.
This is how high tech our local politics are--these people are gathered round the hotel alarm clock/radio listening for updates from the court house.
Yeah, I am not cute here. Ignore that. This was a very polarizing race, to replace our long term SA, who is retiring. Both candidates work or had worked for him. State's attorney races are so emotional because so few people truly understand how things should run, and the battle cry in this race was change. Of course that came from people who do not understand that the outgoing SA is one of the best in the business, and I know that because the focus of my job is to criticize the job that prosecutor's do. We have had a good one this whole time, in that he prosecutes the cases he can get convictions on, and pleads the others---because people do not understand how things really work, those pleas have been criticized. If the general public knew what I knew, they would know that the pleas allowed the State to get convictions they would NOT have gotten had they gone to trial, and that convicting a defendant after a trial has the same effect as convicting him after a guilty plea. The added bonus of a plea is that they shut the doors to appeallable issues, so a defendant who pleads guilty is far more likely to STAY convicted than one convicted at a trial.

This is Meagan, who works in the prosecutor's office and has worked tirelessly to get Jeff elected. We are new friends, and will be forming a gang as soon as we can come up with gang names. She is swell.

A fitting end to election season

What a funny place I live in.

I went to vote in my tiny precinct, and got there about 8:30. I was the tenth in line, which is by far the most people that I have ever seen there. The room is about the size of my living room, maybe.

It did not take long to see what the hold up was--why is it that my poll workers are all elderly ladies? The first one in line--the one who looks you up in the book and pulls your signature tear sheet out told every single person in front of me that they were not in her book. This is after they all told her their names at least three times, and spelled them. Since it is a small precinct, everyone knows everyone, but this did not keep lady #1 from arguing with them about whether the woman in front of me was named Anna something, or something Anna. It was crazy

Finally we got to my turn, I spelled my name FOUR TIMES, and told her my first name, since it is not the one I use. She told me I was not there. She was hung up on Barry's card. Easy enough for me to figure that Valery would be after Barry, but I still had to point it out to her.

I got moved past her and listened to the lady behind me give her name. Lady #2 asked her which in that family she was related to--the answer "none". Lady #2 could not drop it talking about how odd that was, since there are so many and they are all related. Finally the voter told her she had divorced one of them and thus was not related to them any more. I still have not decided what business it was of the election lady, but that is where we ended up--and how uncomfortable for the voter. I probably did not like that election lady as she had a snaggle tooth. Oh yeah--and she was obnoxious

This was getting funny by this time. I was at the end of the table and remarked to the last election lady that it as a little warm in there, it must be due to the crowd. Her response "To each his own". Huh? What has that got to do with anything? I must have looked at her oddly, as she clarified---to each his own about the heat. Still totally non-responsive. That is what I get though for trying to make conversation, like some sort of country bumpkin. I guess she probably thought it was cold, since she as at least 85 her own self

Now we are getting to the coup de grace. Finally I was next up in line---and guess where they sent me?

To the BATHROOM. To vote in the can. For real.

What an appropriate commentary on the season.

I won't even start on the tussle that almost resulted from the "I voted" sticker.