Monday, May 2, 2011

If you don't vote you can't complain

There's a federal election today so I thought it would behoove me to blog about it today. I don't know much about this whole politics thing but I do know that I vote every election because people kill and die for the same right in other countries. Wouldn't it be an awful waste to not take advantage?  I voted for who I always vote for... no hints but I will tell you that I'm a red-blooded Canadian. I wasn't sure at first but I went to the CBC website, answered all the questions, and my results were incredibly clear. I'm not crazy about the leader but their policies and mine gel on every single level so I did what I had to.

Before you complain about how much time voting takes, let me tell you how long it took me. Ten minutes from the second I set foot out the door until the second I got back home. Admittedly, I left the house at 11am so it wasn't the busy time after work but I'm sure it couldn't be more than 30 minutes in all. I actually used a stopwatch to time myself.

11:06- I leave the house and walk over to the polling place which is in the gym of my kids' old elementary school. (3 minutes 41 seconds)
11:09- I show my card and id and I'm told where to stand. Two people are ahead of me and they're my across the street neighbours. We talk about the wet weather and they tell me how hard it was to find a particular nursery they wanted. When it's my turn they are asking me if I want a ride home. I say no... it's a 3 minute walk rain or no rain. I go behind the cardboard partition. (2:09)
11:11- I read all 4 names and parties carefully. I grab one of the 3 bankers pencils (no erasing!) and mark my "x". I give back the ballot and the woman behind the desk tears off a tab and returns it to me. I put it in the box feeling unbelievably superior. I did my civic duty. (0:44)
11:12- On my way out the door I see an old teacher of Audrey's and we have a chat about how she's doing now in middle school (Audrey, not the teacher). Then I walk home in the rain. I get back at 11:06. (3:44)

Total time to exercise my democratic right: 10:20.5. So do it. Go! It's important.

kxx

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