Early Voting

Early voting has begun in Tennessee. Yesterday, on the first day of early voting, Lisa and I went to the polls.

In Knox County, this year’s election cycle brings a number of county charter amendment votes in addition to the statewide general election races for President, U.S. Senate and the district by district Congressional and State House/Senate races.

The question of early voting, for me personally, has always been a matter of drama and protocol versus convenience. For years now, I have taken advantage of the convenience of early voting – where I want/when want – for most state and local elections. But, for the Presidential race, I have always held out, voting only on the actual Election Day (which, this year, is November 6).

This time, I caved. I pushed aside tradition for ease and comfort. Yesterday, I had taken the day off from work so it just made sense to go ahead and go to the polls while I had a little down time. Lisa concurred.

The early voting schedule in Knox County started yesterday. So, we actually visited the polling site – at Town Hall in Farragut – on the first day they were open. As is always the case, the poll workers were knowledgeable, efficient and friendly. They told us both that the polling site in Farragut was quite busy yesterday. It was full when we came to vote around 6 p.m. But, we were in and out in just a few minutes.

That’s the beauty of early voting.

I remember voting in some Presidential races when I had to wait for quite a while to be able to cast my vote.

These machines we use in Knox County are so easy to use, also. You hear horror stories about voting irregularities in some states. Not so here.

These machines look like computer screens. You twist a dial that moves a checked box to the place that registers a vote. Once you’ve got the checked box at the correct slot, you push a button to lock it in. Once you’ve finished one screen, you go to the next. Once you’ve finished all screens, you get one last chance to review your vote. If something is amiss, you can go back and edit what you’ve registered. Otherwise, you push the big red button and, presto, your vote is recorded.

Simple.

Barring some electronic malfunction, it seems fool proof. I can’t imagine a more fail-safe method.

So, if you are thinking about voting, I’d encourage the early voting option. You can get in and out very quickly and there are a number of places around the county where you can do your civic duty. And even if you are a hard core traditionalist and you want to go to the polls on Election Day, the convenient machines will be there, too. And you can find all the polling places online.

Either way, I encourage you to vote.

Smooth, Quick and Easy. No hanging chads; no dimpled chads.

Whoever Chad is.

JG 

(Source: ajc.com)

Originally posted 10/18/2012