Picking Our Leaders By Any Means Necessary

Only blue or black ink would do. And I could either put a check in the box or draw an X, nothing else. These were the rules that accompanied my absentee ballot. I read them twice to make sure I wouldn't get disqualified on some sort of technicality.

Then I went about the heady task of deciding who I believe would best represent me in the state Legislature and in Congress and in the White House. I formed an opinion on bond issues affecting both my adoptive city and my adoptive state. And whether it was a good idea to give preferential treatment for prospective city workers who live within the city's borders.

I voted.

But it really didn't feel the same. It didn't have the cache of walking into my polling place and picking up my ballot, withdrawing behind that little blue curtain to secretly make my selections and then proudly leaving with the ubiquitous "I voted" sticker.

This Election Day I will have to find one of the rather rare "I voted awhile ago" stickers.

Since there's a pretty good chance I'll be working on Election Day, I really had no choice but to cast an absentee ballot. It was a massive piece of paper, folded and folded again. One side had candidates for office, the other had ballot questions on water projects and the like. After I made my marks (I picked an X, because that's just the kind of guy I am), I jammed the ballot back into an envelope.

I tried to make a big deal about slipping the oversized envelope into a mail slot, but it didn't feel momentus. I'm hoping that come Nov. 4 I'll at least feel a little of the charge I normally get from this most fundimental of democratic acts, though it might be vicariously through my friends and family.

But now to the real question. I'm sure you're curious about who I voted for. I probably shouldn't do this, but I'll tell you.

I supported Jack Wagner. Mostly because this candidate for a minor state office shares his name with some hunk who starred on the soap opera General Hospital in the 1980s. My mom and aunt Pam were big Jack Wagner fans.

Ma, that vote was for you!