Election Day!

Please vote! If you aren't sure where to go, Google makes it easy: go to http://maps.google.com/vote and enter your address. I'm actually a permanent mail-in voter but I'm taking my ballot to a polling place today so I can get an "I voted" sticker to put on my Obama pin!

As a Californian Democrat, my vote in the Presidential election won't mean much (other than being able to tell my nieces and nephews that I voted for Barack Obama), but fortunately, we have all those lovely Propositions to keep us on our toes. Prop 8 is pretty much in a dead heat, which I just find sad. I don't know if it's the appalling ads that are freaking people out but in my mind, even if you don't approve of gay marriage, discrimination just doesn't fit with the California culture of 'live and let live'.

The only Proposition that I'm actually voting FOR is Prop 11, the redistricting measure. I've been meaning to write a post about it - maybe I still will - but the short version is that my time in Sacramento made me a much bigger fan of term limits and convinced me that the current system is seriously messed up. Everyone up there talks about people's terms as if every incumbant will be re-elected for the maximum terms possible (i.e., a new Assemblymember's term isn't considered to be two years, it's assumed to be six). Maybe that's not a bad thing but then why don't we just change term length to six years and at least let them focus on governing instead of spending so much money on campaigns that don't really mean much?

At any rate, whoever or whatever you are voting for, today is going to be an historic day. Get out there and vote!