Election 2016

Election Cats

A few thoughts on the 2016 Presidential Election

Yesterday, my copy of Orange County’s Sample Ballot & Voter Information Pamphlet arrived containing quite a bit of information.

The beginning was devoted to how, when and where I can vote. I’ve been voting Absentee / Vote-by-Mail for the last few elections. I can fill out my ballot at home in peace and quiet, without any lines, and drop my ballot at my neighborhood fire station, which is just a couple of minutes of walking down the street. I used to drop it off at the polling place in the auditorium of the school at which I was teaching.Election Cats

One page showed the endorsements of the Democratic, Republican, and American Independent parties on the Senatorial, Congressional and State Legislature races.

Another explained items concerning the Presidential (party-nominated offices), California Top-Two Primary and County or Local Offices (nonpartisan).

Then came a page listing party name abbreviations (e.g.: DEM – Democratic) and also listing candidates for the State Senate and State Assembly districts in Orange County.

The next page listed the Voting Service Centers (6) where you could drop of your Vote-by-Mail ballot, get a replacement ballot or receive other voter assistance.

Next, several pages of candidate statements for those running for Congress and state and local offices.

Section 7 contained six pages on Measure O — a bond issue ($63,000,000) for repairs and upgrades for the Fountain Valley School District.

Election CatsThe Sample Ballot / Practice Ballot followed; three pages in length and fourth blank page — “This page left intentionally blank”

Page 34 contained a plea to volunteer on Election Day; page 35 had a copy of the Voter Bill of Rights and then a final page asking if my information was correct.

The back cover had my mailing address, my polling place, a postage paid postcard so I could volunteer and in the lower right hand corner a paragraph on how to sign up for a “paperless” Sample Ballot.

Oh, yeah, I should get my Vote-by-Mail Ballot sometime next week — they begin to get mailed out on the 11th (Tuesday).

Now I’m waiting for my copy of the California State Voter Guide — maybe I can then figure out how to vote on the seventeen (17) state propositions without having to depend on the always too rosy / too gloomy / too deceptive / too self-interestry television commercials and newspaper endorsements.


While reading following the baseball and football games last night (and having the late-evening news on in the background) Smoke and Mist kept me company — thus, the gratuitous cat pictures in today’s post.