Early voting in Georgia opened last Monday, October 17. Leah and I voted on Thursday.
According to the Atlanta TV news, early voting locations in the Atlanta metro area had waits of up to three hours. We didn’t have to wait at all. I was surprised that our residence had been updated. I updated my address when I got a new driver’s license about a month ago. We updated Leah’s voting registration address when we changed her driver’s license address on the day before voter registration closed. Finally, something worked the way it’s supposed to.
There was a slow but steady stream of voters when we were there. They were all old. We did our civic duty and voted for the sane candidate for President. I regret to say that I strongly suspect that our votes were cancelled multiple times while we were there. For some reason that I cannot fathom, it seems that old, white people in Georgia support Trump, even those who are not wealthy.
I heard one of them when I took Lucy to the vet on Monday. An elderly white man was explaining to another old white man in a voice somewhat louder than conversational that Hillary Clinton should be in jail, and so should Bill. I don’t know whether the recipient of this sentiment agreed or was simply trying not to rile him, like you might act around a wild animal. I did not take the open seat beside the Trump supporter. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to engage him or not, but settled on not.
On Friday night we saw a pickup truck with a bumper sticker that said, “Gun owners support Trump.” Now the fact that Trump is a pathological liar does not necessarily indicate that Trump supporters are also liars, but, if you read that statement to mean that all gun owners support Trump, then that statement is demonstrably not true. We own guns, and we do not support Trump: QED. If it means that some gun owners support Trump, it is true, but only trivially so.
I also regret to say that it’s not only old, white people. Leah and I went to the Dark Side of the Moon bar again on Tuesday for jazz night. There were several open seats at the bar beside me. A youngish (to me) woman sat next to me. We generally ignored each other for a while, but she seemed interested in starting a conversation, so we did. We talked for a while, learning that she was not as young as she looked — 50, with grandchildren. After a while, she dared to venture into politics. She said she was a lifelong Republican, but just couldn’t decide who to vote for. She was concerned that Hillary Clinton would take her guns away from her. I assured her that she would not. She solicited my opinion, so I told her that she should do what she thought she should do, but that I recommended that she should vote for Hillary.
Despite that, we left on good terms.
I cannot conceive of any sane black person or Hispanic, or woman voting for Trump, and Georgia has a fair number of all of these. Of course, I cannot conceive of any sane person of any ethnicity voting for Trump, but that is probably a failure of my own imagination. Despite all that, I expect Georgia to go for Trump. If it does, I will be ashamed of my state.
I’m so glad you posted this! We’ve been thinking about voting early just because we want to get it over with. This has been the most aggravating upsetting heartbreaking election season I have ever experienced. I can’t wait for it to be over. Maybe the October surprise will be that Trump explodes like the hot-air balloon cartoon freak show that he is. Now that would be something, that really would be something. One thing about living here on the north coast is that I’ve seen bumper stickers for Jill Stein. Oy! Thank you and Leah for voting.
Robin — We watched 60 Minutes Sunday night. They interviewed some Ohio residents, some for Trump, some for Clinton. We really shouldn’t do that. I got so disgusted with the Trump supporters that the dogs left the room.
Mark– We almost watched 60 Minutes last night. Turned the TV on, looked at what the segments were, and then immediately turned it off. Roger and I had a good laugh just now about your doggies leaving the room.
Amen, Mark. We here in Pennsylvania don’t have early voting, so we have to wait until November 8.
I hate to go to the polls. I hate to navigate through the crowds of boosters hovering around the doors. I hate to make “nice” with my neighbors. My political persuasion is generally different from that of the majority of my voting ward’s population, so I have to put on a fake smile and go in to negate their vote. Because of my professional position as the director of a non-profit organization that’s well-known in the community, a lot of my fellow voters know me and want to talk to me; I don’t mind talking, but I don’t want to do it when I vote. Kali thinks I’m crazy about this; it doesn’t bother her one bit.
Scott – We always try to vote early. I don’t want to stand in line, and early voting is usually pretty easy here. Even with higher-than-normal turnout for early voting around Georgia, there weren’t many people at the polls when we went. Leah and I find our politics pretty much diametrically opposed to most of the people around here.