Why I like to vote on election day in my swing voting precinct

I'm getting a lot of emails from Obama for America reminding me to vote early.  That's cool.  It shows they are targeting early voting, shows they have a strategic turnout operation, and I like it.  I'm not gonna vote early though.

I like walking in, getting a ballot, going to a booth, and making that mark.  I think it must be the Catholic in me - us Catholics like ritual.  We really do.  It separates us from all the posers out there (that's a funny - attempt at humor, self-deprecating irony even).  There's no ritual more American than voting on election day.

Most of all though, I also think it's the election observer in me.  Having observed so many elections abroad, my eyes are trained for looking around a polling place.  I like getting a feel for the polling place.  I like to see if there's a line.  I like to see if the poll workers know what the hell they are doing, which, in Cuyahoga County, is never a fair assumption.  And I like to see who is voting.  In my swing precinct in Middleburg Hts. (read, lots if I's and R's), these things kind of matter toward the result.  

I also like to find out if there's potential for chaos.  If there's a problem in my polling place, like not enough ballots or booths, confusion in the poll workers, or long lines, there is likely to be the same problem in bigger, far more important precincts in Cuyahoga County.  Which is when I start dialing my phone.

So, Paul Tewes, keep ginning up that early vote.  But I'll see you at the Middleburg Hts. Library on March 4, probably around 10 or 11 am.  It's my ritual.