Day #155 Sitting at the polls

Yesterday I worked at the polls all day, hoping the roof wouldn't leak (the way it did during the election last November) and hoping we wouldn't have another tornado (like the one we had on election day last November).

For this month's election to replace the somewhat ignominious Chair of the County Commissioners, who chose to resign rather than face an indictment, eight poll workers began work at 6 a.m., when we turned on the machines we'd set up the previous evening, and swore (or affirmed) to uphold our duties as election officials.

By 7:15 we'd had two voters. By noon, there'd still been fewer than a hundred. When the polls closed at 7 p.m., our machines showed that 189 people had voted (out of the 3,533 registered voters in our precinct). Calls to other precinct managers reported similar dismal results. In fact, our precinct was one of the more heavily attended.

Something is wrong with this picture. Five percent of the voters are deciding who will lead Gwinnett County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation. Five pathetic percent.

Bees don't do it this way. People who don’t know bees, think the queen must lead the hive, but it’s really the worker bees—all of them—who make the decisions. The queen doesn’t have a vote, and the drones aren’t eligible either. Still . . .

100% of the eligible bees

versus

5% of the eligible humans

Humph!

I figure if I don’t vote, I don’t have the right to complain about the results.

Do you vote whenever you have the opportunity?

BEEattitude for Day # 155:

       Blessed are those who exercise their civic rights. If they acted like us bees, everyone would behave responsibly.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Gentle rain.    

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