Election Day

Today, citizens all across the country will make their quadrennial trek to their local precinct and cast their vote for, among others, one of the candidates for president.

After today, your mailbox will be less full, your home phone will be quieter, and instead of hundreds of political commercials, you will once again be subjected to whatever product is to be offered for your  pocketbook's consideration. 

I am not sure why those who run political campaigns believe sending the same pamphlet, flyer, or postcard to five different people at X address is a good use of time and money. Commercials all show their candidate's picture in color, while the vile opponent is always shown in a supposedly less-flattering black & white photo.

This year I have heard and seen a number of commercials for local candidates, which normally start appearing only in the last 10 days of the campaign, that have mentioned neither the candidate's party affiliation nor, in the case of those running for state representative, which district the candidate is hoping to represent.

Another annual occurrence is the appearance on the ballot of candidates for the State Board of Education. Often these people are unopposed, but even when candidates are pitted against each other the only time you see their name is when you are asked to vote for them. No one knows anything about who they are, what they stand for, or what their background is. If you cannot bother to publicize your campaign for office, I certainly cannot be bothered to vote for you. The only candidate for SBOE of whom I have heard is running in a district far from where I live, and I have only heard he is running because he is a former football player for The Ohio State University and acts as an analyst on the radio for OSU pre-and-post-game shows, and that he is forbidden to do that job until after the election.

Thanks to Beloved Father and Sainted Mother, we have had a good education in the elections process, and, at least for me, this interest still holds.