Just Vote

I just voted in the Election Primary this morning in the Town Hall on Hillside Avenue. There were no other voters there when I arrived. There were five people per table or "booth" to administer the voters. There's a new book to sign in, but still no way to verify I am who I say I am. That is a bigger issue to me than hanging chads, eye recognition and so on.

After signing in, one of the attendants said rather loudly, that I could not wear the t-shirt I had on in there. I intentionally wore it to see if someone would protest or just let it go. I offered to take it off.

Well, she wouldn't let it go. "Are you a democrat?" I asked politely. She turned away. Then she turned back and said again, "You can't wear that shirt in here." "Why not?" I asked. "Because you can't," was her clever retort. "It's political campaigning which is not allowed by law," said a second woman. "Are you also a democrat?" I asked her only to receive the parental/teacher stare we've all gotten when we were suspect of doing something wrong. "That doesn't matter," she responded, "you just can't wear it here." I told them that I am not a candidate in this primary so it shouldn't matter." To which I received folded arms by both and a "Hrrummp!" grunt from one. I was hoping they would harp on this discussion to see if MY first amendment rights would be violated. We didn't get that far. A male poll worker intervened and said the shirt appeared to be from an older campaign and is not a violation. Ooh, he must be a republican...

It always seems to be okay to invoke some irrelevant point when trying to stop a republican from saying or doing something. Those same people seem to continuously allow a democrat to "skate" when the shoe is on their foot. It's a sad state of affairs. Many have seemed to lose their moral compass from the smallest of issues to the largest. If the arguments are so weak or shallow that you must deflect from the real issue by masking with another, perhaps you should take an honest look at the logic. It's time to change from this tired model that served our multiracial president so well in Chicago but has no place in Westchester, New York, or America.

Back to what I hoped would be casting my vote. I had to take a marker, tied to a corrugated plastic table and mark off a rather large sheet of paper with my candidate choices to feed into the machine. I take issue with this as it ultimately removes my privacy of the act of voting for all to see as I walked across the floor to the automatic scanner, where I was instructed to feed my ballot. Everyone could see my votes if they were really interested. The other issues are the costs surrounding the process: the scanners need electricity to run, the lever-type machines did not; the large printed paper ballot must cost a fortune a) because anything governmentally purchased is usually overpaid for; and b) it was on a relatively high grade and weight of paper; required markers to actually cast your vote and finally,  had a cash register type roll of paper to record each ballot cast. I was next required to feed the paper ballot into the scanner. I was told after the scanner took the page, that it keeps the ballots so if a recount were required, the count would be accurate. Wow, now I'm voting for recounts. How ridiculous.

Do some homework and study the candidates. Don't just study their party allegiance, but read about, talk to and engage them. Don't try to shout them down or shut them up. Hear what they offer and then try engaging them in a discussion if you disagree. Vote honestly based on what you've discussed with them. Maybe that means crossing party lines. Maybe it even means foregoing one of your beliefs to support another. This year, make you vote a good vote, not just a cursory one because a party faithful coerced you into voting the party line. Regardless, please just vote.

Thomas Bock is the endorsed candidate of the Republican and Conservative parties for the 92nd Assembly District seat. He can be reached at info@Bock2010. Visit his website at www.Bock2010.com or his blog at www.electtombock.blogspot.com. You can contribute to his campaign through his website and Pay Pal, 

or by sending a check or money order to 

Elect Tom Bock, PO Box 1098, 405 Tarrytown Road, White Plains, NY 10607.