Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Join the Political Elite: Vote in the Primary

Today is primary election day in Kentucky. The secretary of state is predicting a 15% turnout. This means that your vote counts for six.

This election is important to you even if you don't live in Kentucky. The commonwealth is one of only three states to elect its governor the year before the presidential election. The Kentucky governor's race is, therefore, often an early test of the general mood of the electorate. This year we have an unpopular and not-so-competent Republican governor heading a scandal-plagued administration. How bad is it? His own lieutenant governor refused to run with him, a former congresswoman is running against him in the primary with a serious chance to force a runoff, and half the leading Republican officials tried to get the governor not to seek re-election.

On my side of the aisle, the crowded field is coming down to The Turncoat, a rich businessman who backed the now-disgraced Republican in the governor's race last time, versus the strongest ticket of real Democratic officials, to see who could win in the fall.

This primary election is also a milestone in the Gruntled household. Child #2, the wonderful Endub, figured out that since she will be of age by the general election in the fall, she can vote in the primary now. She then went through the high school registering every other member of her class who will be of voting age by November. We will vote a little later in the day, and wear our I Voted stickers proudly.

With the rest of the political elite.

2 comments:

Kerri said...

they said i should get a sticker saying "i tried to vote."

bah! poo on me and my short-sighted moments of ideological righteousness.

Gruntled said...

I think the primaries are often the most fun part of the election cycle. Worth the price of joining a party, I think.