Civic responsibility

It's hard to write the first post after Jude's death. I have been avoiding it and my heart isn't in it, but I just need to do it.

So yesterday was election day in our fair city, with the main event being the mayoral election. I was in a very busy work day at Nancy's all day and then headed straight to Deeta's afterward to work some more. As I crossed town in the evening rush, it occurred to me I'd forgotten to dash out at lunch to vote. No worries, there's plenty of time.

Then it occurred to me that potentially I could get off the hook. At the super-long red light at Northern Lights Boulevard and the New Seward Highway, I called Kari and said "Hey, have you voted yet?" Damn her, she said "Of course..." like I was the only idiot who hadn't. I said "Shoot, now I have to go vote and cancel you out!"

So my proposal is that we all take our vote AND our time very seriously with a sort of Democracy Express, where people can make a pact with someone of opposite politics simply as a timesaver on Election Day. Had I thought to call Kari sooner with my proposal, perhaps both of us overly busy persons would have been saved the time to vote, with zero-sum effect on the progress of democracy. The only real requirement is that both parties are honest, both about their political stance and their desire to skip the voting errand. Perhaps the honesty standard could be, say, the same as applies to candidates for office.

I think this could catch on.