Slacker Citizen

I give myself credit for showing up to vote yesterday, but confess to arriving at the polls totally unprepared. We had been besieged with recorded phone messages, none of which I listened to because I hate robots talking to me.

What I had forgotten was that it was a Democratic primary. I was no longer voting against the other guys, but I had to pick one of my guys and I hadn’t done my homework.

Picture me sitting outside the polling place Googling on my iPhone to get help that would allow me to do more than vote for the one with the prettiest signs or even worse flip a coin.

As it turns out, I probably voted for the wrong guy. Reading about Deeds, the guy who won, today suggests that he would have been a better choice. Fortunately a lot of other people had already figured that out.

R. Creigh Deeds currently represents a rural area of Virginia in the state senate. His record shows that time and time again he has not necessarily voted for the popular thing in his district, but rather for the RIGHT thing to do for the state as a whole. He is determined to improve the state’s transportation system, having supported an unpopular hike in the state’s gas tax. He strongly supports green issues. He makes education a priority. And furthermore, he’s a nice guy.

I should probably have paid more attention to the fact that the Washington Post had endorsed Mr. Deeds.

I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t do a very good job of exercising my civic rights yesterday, all too casually casting my vote. Next time I promise to be better prepared.