Election Day

I opened my ballot this weekend to cast my vote. After scanning it, I realized that there was absolutely no reason to vote this time around.

I'm usually very conscientious - I may have missed a vote here or there over the years, but I almost always exercise my franchise. But this time around there really was no reason to do it. It would have been a waste of 39 cents.

I live just outside of Portland in unicorporated Multnomah County. My ballot had a grand total of two contested races, both for Multnomah County ESD. Every other race - local school board, fire district, water district, etc. - was either blank or had one candidate.

It simply doesn't matter who in on the Multhomah ESD board. ESD's shouldn't exist in the first place as a seperately funded governmental entity with an elected board. The board position is simply a stepping stone into elected office for wannabes, or a place for busybodies to feel as if they have some power. I know zippo about any of the candidates and there is no reason at all to spend any time to learn about them, because the ESD board position has no policy-setting impact at all.

So, for the first time in my life, I decided NOT to vote.