of mailings
Voting absentee seemed like a very good idea this year for two reasons. Firstly, our voting location was high up the local mountain, up a steep, windy, climbing road to a mountain-top section that afforded local residents serene quiet, welcome privacy and remarkable ocean views but was in a location that was difficult to remember since the last time we voted there. Secondly, there was another reason that, for the life of me, I simply cannot remember, but I am sure that it was an adequate rationale for deciding to vote absentee.
We filled out our ballots, carefully inking in our choices in the proper ovals, even voting for the judgeships where we did not know the individuals vying for the positions. How does one make that kind of selection anyway? What does one base it on: Name? Perceived ethnicity? Experience? What? Sidestepping any guilt feelings that may have engendered, we mailed in our completed ballots. Then, the deluge began: daily mailings that pointed with pride or viewed with alarm, quiet listings of current achievements, strong positions of support, strident mentions of near-malfeasance in office, selected alarming voting trends, names of wealthy campaign contributors (with an inference of future obligations), sinister out-of-state funding, the whole panoply of mudslinging mixed in with valuable non-partisan voter information that would help the undecided voter determine whom to support, whom to vote for.
But, we had already cast our absentee ballots, so to the circular file these mailing must go, along with the daily pleas from every charitable organization on God’s green earth who must swap addresses with each other looking for potential contributors. There was a time when charities would solicit needed funds once a year, not once a (expletive deleted) month! Now, if that were on the ballot, guess how we would vote!
Ray Singer