First Tuesday in November – It’s Election Day Maine
Today is Election Day.
Sorry I’m not going to tell you who to vote for of how to vote on the referendums. How rare, right.
It is fact that about $100 million dollars has been spent on advertising for Question One. That is a lot of money. A record amount of money, actually. And based on the number of absentee ballots requested, this off year election will have a higher than usual number of voters.
As we look around the world and see what is going on in other countries, an election is still one of the great thrills of our American democracy.
They used to say that if you didn’t vote you had no right to complain about the outcome and the direction of things. Of course that was long before social media, Facebook especially.
How will our elections change in the future?
Not the candidates or the issues, but will it become a Federal Holiday which has been drumming up support for some time now. There are now 11 states that have made First Tuesday in November a state holiday, and Maine might be joining that list sooner rather than later.
Will we be able to vote totally on line someday in the future? It is not like we don’t do everything else on line.
Once again this year, a common question is have you ever voted for someone or something that you know nothing about, because you saw a lawn sign announcing their name, or telling you to vote Yes or No on such and such an issue? Dozens of signs at some intersections, vying for our attention. Oh oh, light turned green. Time to go.
To the candidates, good luck and get those signs down tomorrow. Tonight if possible.
Hopefully you enjoy the process of voting, and you will do just that. And this election, and all elections, will be followed with finding common ground that unites us, instead of focusing of what divides us
Vote, and feel proud that you did. And never forget that in America, we can.