Election Day/Night/Day

I arrived at the polls at 7 AM sharp to vote in the Nevada primary, on election day, the way God and the Founding Fathers intended it. The line was already out the door, but moved quickly. Total time voting was 14 minutes.

The new voting map at the county registrars office is extremely cool. You'll have to wait for the map to load, and it only covers turnout- not who's winning but still, very nice. I woke up this morning and found it had crashed. It's back up and running now though.

The results of the primary were pretty disappointing. My precinct only had a 2% turnout, better than the 1&1/2 of 2 years ago, but I need to get with it. My 2 upset picks were both defeated. Don Chairez lost out in the race for the supreme court by only 300 votes state-wide. I hope he takes heart from the narrow loss and comes back in 2 years. The other candidate I liked was the omnipresent James Smack. He came in just below 15%. I was figuring 30. Of coarse he was the longest of long shots, but I thought he would do better. Interestingly, he posted pretty consistent numbers across the counties.

For the most part, the party establishment retained their grip on power. I think the lesson I'm getting from all this is that next time, I'll get involved with a candidate rather than the party as a whole. Of coarse, one has to be involved with the party just to find out who the candidates are. Republicans aren't known for being web-savvy. There must be some way that works better for me and still helps get at least one good guy elected.