Voting is Crazy-Making for Silicon Valley Mom

Tonight I finally filled in my Santa Clara County, California, absentee ballot, just in time to go walk it in to a polling station tomorrow. Not only did we get to vote for President/Vice President, US Representative, State Senator, and State Assembly Member, we also got to vote for one judge, one county board of education member, two local school board members, and four city council members (with nine in the race). And we got to vote for twelve state ballot measures, and four county ballot measures. Since my husband and I just returned to the state this year and are new to the county, we didn't simply get to research the current propositions, but we dove into all of the history of the issues we could find as well. It took at least two full evenings. Thank goodness for the internet and for a husband who's a committed voter and excellent and highly educated web researcher.

So what have I learned in this process? Everybody likes parks. Very few people like the VTA (Valley Transportation Authority). Incumbents know a whole lot more about the job than challengers do. Candidates that have good websites feel a lot more vote-worthy. And I really hate talking about politics. Especially with my mom.

Even though we hold the same core values and agree on some key issues, we vote differently on almost everything. In the 2004 election, she called to say, "Don't vote. You'll cancel me out!" Tonight when I called to ask for a recipe, she asked how I was voting on some of the propositions. I told her reluctantly, and then I couldn't remember any of my suave and convincing arguments. Somehow in the face of someone totally convinced of the rightness of her political views, mine seemed to wither. The truth is, I'm not totally certain of my political views or how to fix the problems in the world. And I don't agree with every position of every person I voted for. Our two party system sets up this lovely false dichotomy, which seems amplified by proponents on each side, but political issues seem so much more nuanced and complex to me, and I don't like to be judged by a label that doesn't totally apply.

I'll turn in my ballot tomorrow, having exercised my power to participate in government, having done my civic duty, and having modeled for my kids that voting is something you do. Then on the walk home, they'll squabble over who gets to wear my "I Voted" sticker, and I'll be glad not to have to discuss politics for a while.