melannen | (no subject)

Okay, y'all convinced me, I went and RSVPd for the debate-watching party.

I'll report back come the end of October.

I also had my last election judge training today. ARRGH.

So here is a PSA: Maryland has seven state ballot question. Anne Arundel County has an additional 15.

AACo Board of Elections has determined that it will take over three times as long as usual for someone to fill out their ballot. So if you live in my county, take however long the wait was for you two years ago, double for presidential election turnout, then triple it for ballot questions, and that is how long your line will be this year.

Or you could do absentee or early voting. I suggest that, if you normally vote at a busy time.

(elsewhere in Maryland may not be quite as bad, but it'll be bad enough, considering three of those ballot questions are pretty controversial. It's been awhile since we've had more than one high-visibility referendum. Certainly since before we started with the INCREDIBLY POORLY DESIGNED DIEBOLD MACHINES.)

Also, one of the voting judges I'm going to be working with is already making plans to report one of our chief judges to the board of elections for misconduct the minute she does one thing that's not by the book. It's going to be so exciting, guys!

...in actually important news, Yuletide is starting early this year! I am completely without any plans for my Yuletide nominations this year. I think I will just not nominate, and then see what's on the nominations list that calls out to me.

Or I could nominate three things that haven't been yet but that I'd love to get at least a little more visibility for. Hrmmm.

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Three are controversial? I only knew about two! ::runs to check out ballot questions::

Freaking Diebold machines.

I am undecided about Yuletide. I am committed to beta for a friend if a certain fandom (Girls Next Door!) gets picked.

I am counting the gay marriage one, the gambling one, and the repeal the gerrymandering one as the controversial ones. And I forgot about the DREAM act one! So there's actually four reasonably controversial ones.

The Orphans' court ones and the one closing a loopole about felons getting kicked out of office are the less controversial ones.

I nominated Koyaanisqatsi, Danger 5, and Moses und Aron. So while all the people with reasonably well-known but rare randoms are posting on that thread about how their nominations have been approved, I'm still waiting. :P

On Koyaanisqatsi I nominated "Cloud", "Traffic", "Rocket" and "Explosions". Because those are my favorite characters??? It seemed better than nominating "Guy leaning on a jet engine and frowning" or "woman standing in front of a moving subway car and smiling too much".

Back when I had four nominations, I'd typically use the fourth one for a fandom I wasn't particularly interested in offering or requesting, necessarily, but thought deserved to be part of Yuletide. Fandoms that people might not think of as fandoms, but if they saw them on the list of fandoms it might trigger something neat. That worked out well with Settlers of Catan two years ago. I nominated it, somebody saw it was on the list, said, "ooh, I never realized how much I wanted that," somebody offered it, and as a result "Five Trades Worth Making" is part of our world now.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I don't have any tiny fandoms that I'm absolutely bursting for fic in at the moment (probably because I've been mostly reading non-fiction, and playing around in largish fandoms, this year, and also because I'm still working on writing last year's yuletide fic.) There's a bunch of fandoms that usually get a nomination or two that I'd love fic in, though, so I think I'll just sit back and see what's up.

Pinkwater and Madelyn Mack have to end up nominated one way or another though, of course.

Well, neither Bride and Prejudice nor The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress have been nominated yet. (Or, at least, they haven't been approved and and put on the spreadsheet, yet.) I already have three I know I will be nominating (although if Batman Beyond gets nominated by someone else I will use one of those), and B&P and MiaHM would be my fourth fandom to request (assuming someone else nominates them).

Hint, hint.

(What characters, you may ask? Lalita, Darcy, Balraj, and Jaya; Mike, Manny, Wyoh.)

(Although someone nominated BSG and NCIS LA. Really, folks? Really?)

Oregon went to vote by mail exclusively several elections ago in an effort to boost voter turnout; personally, given that those who don't bother to show up probably don't bother to pay attention, either, I'm not sure I want to be courting their vote. Not to mention the much greater chances of voter fraud and intimidation. I mean, the intimidation factor alone can be huge. If you vote in a booth, it doesn't matter how much pressure your spouse/caretaker/whatever puts on you, they have no way of knowing what you voted. With a mail ballot, they can stand over you as you fill it out to ensure you fill it out the way they want.

Yuletide! My A. Lee Martinez nomination this year is The Automatic Detective, a sci-fi/noir/pulp story about a robot that finds itself in the middle of a mystery and becomes a PI.

And may I say, your elections always sound very intimidating! I've been voting since I hit 18 (I was a poll clerk for the last provincial one) and we just don't have ballots with that many questions.