Needless to say I was very happy with the election results yesterday. I think we're gonna be in good hands if Biden becomes our candidate, and as of now he's the front runner so all is well. Judging from the lines I saw at the voting stations in my area (and more about that in a moment), Trump is gonna be toast for sure come November. All Joe will have to do is run a smart campaign, pick a good running mate (how about Amy Klobuchar or Stacey Abrahms?), and emphasize his two terms with President Obama. And, don't neglect the critical swing states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio etc. Well anyhow, what a turnaround for Biden's candidacy, and again I say hooray!
As for the long lines, it was great to see such a turnout. Less great was the efficiency of the new "voting station" system, which replaced the convenient polling places we used for decades. I won't go on an extended tirade (though I was tempted to last night), but to make a long story short, after bailing out of the line at the CSUN gym (as reported in yesterday's blog), I went for a hike at Aliso. I figured I'd try again later, after 6pm, maybe at a different voting station. At that time, I walked across campus to an attached high school that is affiliated with the university. It was the next closest station to my apartment, about a quarter mile away from the CSUN gym. There was a line there too, but not as long as the one at the gym. There were maybe 100 people in front of me, so I waited......and I waited.......and I waited. But the line absolutely didn't move. They had perhaps 20 voting machines but only two were being used. I stood in line for a half hour before throwing in the towel. I mean.....it didn't budge.
On my way back home, I swung by the gym again. It was worth a try, to see if the line had shrunk in the hours since I'd been there. Peeking in the side door, I could see that it had not. In fact, it was now twice as long. There were hundreds of students by my estimate. I heard a pollworker saying that there'd be an hour and a half wait. "If you're lucky", I thought to myself as I bailed out of there for a second time. As I walked back across campus toward my pad, I was more determined than ever to vote, but where? I knew there was the Moose Lodge in Reseda, just a stone's throw from Pearl's house, but I didn't wanna drive that far if I didn't have to. "Wait a minute"!, I thought. "There's a station at Nobel Jr. High, just a mile away". So I drove and was there in five minutes, but as I arrived I could see there was no point in even getting out of the car. The line snaked out of the school and way down the sidewalk, at least as long as the CSUN line and maybe longer. "Fuggeddaboudditt", I said to myself.
That left the Reseda Moose Lodge, so despite my better instincts I drove down there. It was 7:15 when I arrived, 45 minutes before the polls were to close. I parked on Pearl's street and walked through the alley to the Lodge, and was pleasantly surprised to see a much shorter line, perhaps 75-80 people in front of me. "Great", I thought. "I'll vote and be home by 8, 8:30 tops". There'd be enough time left to watch the Gloria Swanson movie I'd picked up from the Libe. So I stood in the line and I waited.
And I waited.........and I waited.......and I waited.......and I waited. And I nearly turned into stone. 7:15 became 7:30 became 7:45 became 8pm. I'd say ten people at most were processed through during that time, and really I'm being generous. It was likely closer to six or seven. If I'd thought the CSUN line was slow, or the one at the high school was even slower (barely moving), this one was a human parking lot. Snails could've passed us by. At 8pm, I'd been in line for 45 minutes. There were still about 65-70 people in front of me. I knew I was looking at a very long wait, much more than another hour, but I did wait......for a while. I wanted to perform my civic duty, to vote and to vote for Joe Biden, to take a stand against Sanders and his Bernie Bros.
So I waited and 8pm became 8:30. And folks, during that half hour, almost no one was processed inside. I kid you not. During one fifteen minute period, the same gal was standing at the threshold waiting to enter the Lodge. She never moved during that time. This line not only wasn't budging; it had come to a standstill. I made a quick calculation, and judging by the state of the line, with at least 60 people still in front of me, I was looking at another two hours minimum, and that was if the line accelerated to the speed of two minutes per person, when up to that time it was taking six to eight minutes per person.
I'd already been in line for an hour and fifteen minutes. I'd waited earlier that afternoon at the CSUN gym for forty minutes and earlier in the evening at the high school for a half hour. None of the lines had moved with anything approaching efficiency, and the line at the Moose Lodge had ground to a halt. I was looking at 10:30pm at the earliest before I'd have the chance to vote, and by that time I'd have been in line for over three hours, And that was a "best case" scenario.
So, I bailed. I walked out of the line at the Moose Lodge, bidding "good luck" to the people I'd stood with, and walked back to my car and drove home. It was the first primary that I didn't vote in since I began voting in 1980. I've never missed one before, but I figured, "hey, I'm a caregiver, I've gotta be at Pearl's in the morning, and I can't stand here in line all night long, end of story".
The truth is that whoever designed this new system with the "voting stations" was totally unprepared for the turnout. The stations were drastically understaffed, at CSUN and the high school I saw the vast majority of machines standing empty and unused, while a handful of staffers at each site tried valiantly (but failed) to process people at anything resembling a reasonable speed. It was a fiasco, to put it mildly.
So........I tried but failed to cast my vote. I promise, however, to vote in the general election, even if I have to wait overnight. Better yet, I'll just do a mail-in ballot, which I could've (and should've) done this time, but I've always enjoyed voting on Election Day. It feels more "official" somehow. If it's gonna be like this, however, I'll never do it again. I'll go with the mail-in instead.
So that's my voting story from yesterday. For me it was a total debacle but overall it was a very good result as noted. When I got home, I watched a "Mr. Wong" movie to unwind. It was called "Doomed To Die"(1940) and starred Boris Karloff, Marjorie Reynolds and Grant Withers. I loved it but was too tired to review it for you, and now I must leave for the Opeth concert, so I hope you'll forgive me.
The movie gets "Two Solid Thumbs Up" (as opposed to the election process....).
Well, onward and upward as we say. I'll see you at the Hollywood Palladium in a couple of hours and then back here later tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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