Election Experience

This is the body of the letter I sent to the election administrator of Lubbock County, based on my voting experience on May 22, 2018:

May 23, 2018

Election Administrator Dorothy Kennedy

1308 Crickets Avenue

Lubbock, Tx.  79401

Ms. Kennedy:

I voted in the election held on May 22, 2018 and I voted at Parsons Elementary in the late afternoon.  The people at the voting sight were very helpful, but frankly, I was a little concerned.  The lady who checked me in had trouble printing the label, and it turned out the paper spool had run out.  She kept telling it to print, so multiple labels were printed. I did not think she was going to do anything inappropriate with the labels, and I did not complain about the time elapsed or the excess of labels.  I had told her I would be voting Democrat, which was reflected on the label, but she put it on the Republican card, saying she just assumed I was voting Republican.  Her coworker noted that the label indicated Democrat, and that was easily and pleasantly resolved.

I understand that people are recruited to help with elections, and may not be experienced at the process. If I were a different kind of person, I could have made a big deal about an election “official” assuming I was going to vote Republican when indeed I was not.  I am not that kind of person. However, I am the kind of person who wants problems to be resolved and corrected so they do not occur again.

I know you will address this issue with election workers and officials.

Thank you for your service to our county.

Joyce Badger

2805 62^nd St.

Lubbock, Tx  79413

806-928-0805

Our Responsibility as Voters

I had this epiphany as we were driving home from our trip on the 21^st of July. 

As a citizenry of the USA, we have to be responsible when we are voting for potential leaders.  Our obligation is not just to understand the candidate’s stand on various issues.  Our obligation is to understand the provisions of the Constitution of the United States.  We have an obligation when we elect a president to decide if that person can successfully recuse himself/herself from profit making so as to comply with the tenets of the Constitution, especially the “emoluments clause.”  If we elect a person whose business entanglements are so intricate that this is cannot be done, then we as citizens have failed our constitutional duties as voters.  These issues were brought to the foreground by the media during the election, but it was presented as an obligation the potential winner had to deal with, not as an issue the voter had an obligation to consider when casting their ballot.  I think, in retrospect, that viewpoint was wrong, and we as voters needed to be challenged to be responsible for making that a consideration when we decide on our candidates.

The First Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate 2015

I wanted to watch the Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate on CNN http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/13/politics/democratic-debate-updates/ tonight, (After all, I have watched two Republican Presidential Candidate Debates this year.) but I also wanted to go to the pool to exercise.  I have two very old TVs, one with a built in VCR recorder that no longer works, and another without. I do not have DVR or TIVO or anything like that, although I am moving closer to the point where that will happen.

So, I decided the debate would continue until after I returned home from the pool, and I was correct.  I enjoyed what I saw of the debate.  The best thing is what some of the participants themselves said:  It was substantive and addressed issues, instead of being full of hate, personal criticisms, and personal attacks.  It really made the Democrats look like the finer statespersons.

I hope as the campaign progresses, the Democrats remember that: The substantive issues vs. the personal attacks really are what the voters of the United States want to hear. 

The Republican Presidential Debate

My interest in politics waxes and wanes.  I am only mildly interested in the United States Presidential pre-primary races.  But last night, there was a "debate" of 10 of the Republican announced candidates that was nationally televised http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republican-presidential-debate-numbers/story?id=32937805.  I did not see anything else on TV that I wanted to watch, so I decided to watch the debate.

It was mildly interesting and entertaining.  For the most part, the participants performances were pretty much at the level I would have expected.  My opinion of most of the participants did not change much. 

I actually hoped Jeb Bush would perform better.  I feel sorry for Donald Trump.  He is like an oversized child in a sand box, who is tolerated because he is a bully and people like to laugh at him.  What is really sad is that the American public takes him seriously.  He is a caricature of a political candidate. He so wants to be accepted that I do not think he realizes that a lot of serious people are laughing at him, at best, and denigrating him at worst. He has a lot of public support because he is bold, outlandish, radical and straightforward, but he has no traits that would lend him to be the leader of the strongest nation in the world.  His business history indicates he is ruthless, and goes for the bottom line no matter the cost to his companies and their employees. And he does not care whose toes he steps on in the mean while.

The one candidate that I felt scored well in my book was Gov. John Kasich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich.  He could at least say this is what I did in Ohio, and it was successful in some degree.  He was human and humane. 

I may or may not watch the next debate.