The Real McCoy
That was quite a primary
By Brent E. McCoy thereal@adelphia.net

I don't know about you, but I thought the primary on Feb. 5 was pretty exciting. I know it was one of the biggest turnouts in years. It just goes to show you what the people will do when there are quality candidates on both sides and the ballot isn't cluttered with a bunch of propositions sponsored by a select group of special interests.

I read and studied the choices in the weeks leading up to decision day, but one thing struck me as I filled in the arrows on my ballot. Why were there four Indian referendums on the ballot? Oh, I know why there were four referendums, but why were they Indian referendums? Why weren't there four Native American referendums? Perhaps if I were more into the politically correct thing, it would have dawned on me earlier. But the question remains.

One would think that any referendum concerning Indians should have something to do with baseball and the city of Cleveland. I realize that this is a foolish idea for a referendum, because, as I recall, the Indians (the baseball team) haven't taken the initiative for several years now. The casual reader might not find the humor in the previous sentence but it might have brought a chuckle to some of the political science majors out there.

Personally, I think it was a little unfair to be asked to vote on the Indian referendums by filling in arrows.

The arrows still confuse me. Do the Democrats draw the line from the left or to the left? Do the Republicans draw from the right or to the right? The Independents have it a little easier because they can use a cubist or modernist style for the line.

This was one of the easier ballots to fill out. It was even easier if you were an Independent hoping to vote for Republican because that wasn't allowed.

After I turned in my ballot and the machine gobbled it up, I was handed a sticker. I was quite proud and stuck it on my shirt right away. It wasn't until some time later that I realized that everyone who voted received a sticker. I'd assumed the stickers were only for those of us who answered 100 percent correctly. Oh, well, it was still nice.

I'd like to suggest that since everyone gets a sticker and it seemed that almost everyone stole one of the pens from the voting booth, it might be a good idea to just put the "I Voted" on the pens and hand them to us. It will save a lot of time looking for another pen when you get to the booth.

But we did well this time. Folks finally got out and voted- not as many as there should have been but a lot more than in recent elections.

Let's hope we continue the trend in November. Yes, we have to go back and do it again. There won't be as many candidates running for president in November (we hope). But there will be other folks running for other offices. Hopefully there won't be too many of the special interests.

Maybe we'll have an even bigger turnout in November. I know I'll be there. I can always use another pen.