I voted today.  I hope you all did too.  And given the frenzy leading up to this election, actually casting a vote was much less painless than anticipated, even here in the great swing state of Ohio.  However, it was a little discomforting to see all the extra people at the polls today.  Not the voters - it was great to see people standing in line to participate in our democracy.  It was the observers and the advocates that had me worried.  One group from the local university was taking up three spots in the parking lot (which has only 30 or so parking spaces) to let the students know that they could vote.  Which would be fine, except that those who showed up at this off campus polling place would, one would think, already know that they could vote.  And, having shown up, they had that much less opportunity to exercize that right due to the decrease in available places to park.

I spoke with one of the older ladies who was standing in line with me, waiting to cast her vote, about the craziness surrounding this election.  We agreed that we had been voting for years without difficulty; the added “advocates” and “observers” were only there to help their own political agenda, not the ideal of democracy.  And so, even as the votes are being counted, I would like to ask all the politcal activists out there to please let us go back to the old way of voting.  One man, one vote, each man in his own ballot booth, making his own decision.  Yes, elections are all about politics.  But voting, that very intimate act of democracy, shouldn't be.

And, by the way, thank you to all of our soldiers and veterans today, for helping to protect the democracy that we enjoy today and every day.