Done Voted

[rolanni]

The cats, of course, had early cast Absentee Cat Ballots. This was, I note, Hexapuma's first year voting in the homeland. Steve was at the polls when they opened, and reports that his was the sixteenth ballot submitted; mine, at 3:20, was number 1528.

Reports are that voting is brisk all over the state, and that's with half the people (and cats) that I know having voted early. I'm hoping that the churches aren't busing in dead people across state lines, which would be an Unworthy Thought if both of the Catholic Churches in Waterville didn't have "VOTE YES ON ONE"* signs fifteen deep on their lawns.

At the day-job, yet more data entry, and the smoke from a turf war singeing a perfectly nice poster. More data entry waiting on the desk for tomorrow. Prime the pump, I guess.

I'm going to wash me some dishes, straighten the house and not listen to the radio.

________
*YES ON ONE reverses the standing Maine law allowing couples of the same sex to marry. The actual question below:

QUESTION 1: People's Veto

An Act To End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom

"Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"

Comments

I don't think that word means what they think it does

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

How does it "End Discrimination" to prevent people from marrying?

Re: I don't think that word means what they think it does

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

In all, the proposition is among the weaseliest set of words I've seen in a long, long time. Professionally, I'm In Awe.

Personally...I think if your strategy depends on tricking people into voting for your proposition, you ought to be taken out in back of the woodshed and, um, counseled vigorously.

Re: I don't think that word means what they think it does

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear!

I'm disgusted that people are voting on the rights of a minority and sincerely hope this does not turn into a repeat of Prop 8.

Re: I don't think that word means what they think it does

[pedanther]

It's a veto vote, so "Yes" means you're voting against the Act to End Discrimination.

I think. It is, as several people have noted, a confusingly-worded question.

[baggette.livejournal.com]

Darling,

Saint Vincent
Sacred Heart
Notre Dame
and the Blessed Sacrament are all HRC Churches in Waterville,
In addition, there is St Joseph's Maronite (Lebonese?)Catholic Church in Waterville and then all those others in the surrounding towns. What scares me just as much are all the other "Christian" church communities that also think we should have the right to tell anyone what they may or may not do with another consenting adult, behing closed doors.

GGRrrrrr!

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Ack! You're right. It's just that I routinely travel past Notre Dame and Sacred Heart.

have the right to tell anyone what they may or may not do with another consenting adult, behing closed doors.

No, no; the behind closed doors thing? That's cool. It's the publicly married thing that's not cool. We need to actively prevent an Awkward Situation like this on Parents Day:

Billy: Teacher! I want you to meet my dads!

The harm inherent in such interactions is surely visible to even the meanest intelligence.

(g,d,r)

And other examples of sneaky elections

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

Down in not so small town southern NH the school department is holding a stealth election today.

I only realized it was going on because I saw a sign about it at the dump.

I grant that it probably wasn't intentional on the school districts part. Just really bad publicity efforts.

The local paper for the nearest big city, which usually does well covering out town had nada about our election today. Plenty about their own.

The subject of the election is not exactly earth shattering. Its to allow the school department to transfer some land to the town for a fire station.

When I got to the polls at mid-afternoon there were five election workers and me in the polling place.

Ooops! Forgot the policeman doing crowd control. :)

Hope Maine votes the right way. Or do I mean left?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's one of the more awkwardly phrased questions I've seen in a while.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

So voting "Yes" means that same-sex couples may not marry, and religious groups are required to perform those marriages?

Religious groups have always been allowed to refuse to perform any marriages they didn't want to, so no new law has had any effect on that.

[muehe.livejournal.com]

i would never have voted for the law
But, i would not vote to Veto it either.

[magda-vogelsang.livejournal.com]

I was voter #24 at my precinct this morning, with only three things on the ballot. One was a school millage, which I voted in favor of, despite phone messages telling me not to. If nothing else, at least I canceled out one of the folks who automatically vote against anything that might raise their taxes no matter how important it is. And I have this silly notion that education is important.

The other two regarded changing the city charter to allow public notices to be posted on their webpage instead of in the (now only twice a week instead of daily) newspaper. I was half inclined to vote yes purely on the basis that I'd had phone messages every day for 2 weeks telling me to vote No on them...

love it when you talk about writing.

[murgyt.livejournal.com]

The politics stuff - not so much.

When the bill arrives in Maine to allow multiple people (3 or more) in a marriage, where are you going to stand?

Re: love it when you talk about writing.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

love it when you talk about writing.

...which I do very seldom.

The politics stuff - not so much.

...which I also do, very seldom. I refer you to my profile statement (http://rolanni.livejournal.com/profile).

And, yanno, since this is my "house" -- I get to talk about what I want to talk about.

When the bill arrives in Maine to allow multiple people (3 or more) in a marriage, where are you going to stand?

The more the merrier.

Re: love it when you talk about writing.

[saruby.livejournal.com]

Not that I think what any group of consenting adults decide to do matters, but this is just the worst kind of slippery slope argument. No one is suggesting anything like plural marriage. The issue is whether those couples who have long-standing relationships that they wish to solemnize and have officially recognized should be able to. When plural marriage becomes a political issue, you can argue that point.

Re: love it when you talk about writing.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Good enough for the Mormons, good enough for me . . .

How many wives did King David have?

Re: love it when you talk about writing.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

He had concubines as well (legally and openly). I like Jimmy "Schnozzle" Durante's take on polygamy:

"The sheik of Arabia offered me his harem of a hundred women. I turned him down -- who wants to fing two hundred stockings in the bathroom in the morning?"

But yes, "the more the merrier" as far as I'm concerned (of any gender mix). Or as RAH put it, "the plural of 'spouse' is 'spice'."

[saruby.livejournal.com]

Blessings upon you and other "straight but not narrow" people. I hope you can pull it off. I find it so frustrating that people do not want my child (see handsome young man in thumbnail) to have the benefit of living in a legally sanctioned household. I fear that if YES ON ONE wins, we will be back to square one.

Do the people who oppose gay marriage think we're all going to split up and suddenly become straight if they continue to deny us the same rights other people have?

[elbales]

Testify. Seriously. And I wish you all joy and good things. I just wish everyone else did, too.

[(Anonymous)]

Sneaky!!! That's a double negative and would have caught out people who don't read it very carefully and wanted to show their support by saying Yes.

Whoever formulated that question made their opinion known didn't they.

Tricia