Voting

Today is Election Day and I encourage everyone to get out and vote.  I had the opportunity to vote last week as a part of early voting in Maryland.  I was surprised at how crowded it was when I arrived.  The poll workers said that it was like Election Day on that particular day since it was so crowded.  I love the convenience of early voting since voting on Election Day had its challenges for me.  I try to be at the office by 7 AM each morning, but since the polls open on Election Day at 7 AM, I am delayed in getting to the office.  I certainly don't begrudge anyone's right to vote; but on Election Day when I would arrive at the polling place to vote, there was always a very long line by 7 AM.  Many of the retired folks were there bright and early to exercise their right to vote.  I wished that they would stay home and have another cup of coffee until about 8 AM. 

For early voting this year, I was one of 500,000 early voters in Maryland last week.  When I arrived for early voting, I knew the gentleman checking in voters.  He said even though he knew me, he still had to ask my name, address and birthdate.  I gave it to him, but said that he should be asking for my driver's license or some other form of identification.  He laughed and said that I wasn't the first to suggest it.  So why don't we have such a requirement, as is the case with the new voter ID law in Virginia.  You have to show ID for virtually everything these days and having a voter ID requirement is Maryland simply makes sense.  If it's because there is limited or no ability for the poor to afford or obtain identification, give it to them for free and have it available in locations beyond MVA, such as the post office, health dept., police dept., etc.  In this day and age, fraud is rampant throughout life so why not put as many safeguards in place as possible?

I will not be blogging again until Monday; have a great weekend, but first get out and vote.