wNov 7, 2006


Tomorrow....you vote!

....unless you've already voted via absentee ballot, like I did!

If you live in Madison, you can visit this website, which will tell you where to vote.

I know I said that I wouldn't blog about election stuff, but I feel like I should explain the only part of the ballot that I found potentially confusing. After explaining to both my sister and my mother (who would both probably be horrified that I mention them here in this context....but it's a learning device! Plus, now everybody knows that they will perform their civic duties in voting tomorrow!) what voting "Yes" and what voting "No" meant in regards to the ban on gay marriage and civil unions.
Simplistically:
Voting "YES" means that you support the ban on both gay marriage and civil unions - civil unions, or anything similar, extending to both gay people and straight people.
Voting "NO" means that you oppose the ban on both gay marriage and civil unions.

Even if the ban is turned down, gay marriage will still be illegal in Wisconsin. It's already illegal. So really, voting "Yes" just makes no sense. If the ban does pass, it will have real damage on real people, both gay and straight.

When a similar ban passed in Ohio, some courts ruled that they couldn't grant domestic violence protections to a woman abused by her boyfriend, because this would qualify as a legal status "substantially similar" to marriage.

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault have come out against the civil unions and marriage ban in Wisconsin because they are concerned about the impact it will have on domestic violence protections for unmarried couples.

(Preceding two paragraphs taken from fairwisconsin.com You can see more affects here)


If you need any more convincing that voting is important, listen to The West Wing!
SALLY AND THE SUFFRAGETTES
"It doesn't matter who you vote for. Make sure you vote."

WILL
I like the sentiment, but the thing is I think it does matter who you vote for. What if it said, "No matter who you vote for, make sure you vote." What do you think?


I feel really whiny and ineffectual tonight. I basically haven't studied for tomorrow's Weather & Climate exam (I'll be getting up early tomorrow to do it - Elections & Voting Behavior was canceled due to the election). I only wrote 500 words of my story. I know I'll feel a lot better tomorrow - after class I'll see my English adviser and figure more stuff out, and then I'll finally watched last week's Battlestar Galactica. Then I'll be working on glorious English homework all night long while camping out in front of the TV waiting for exit polls. Antoine's coming over, too! Seriously, what's better than a combination of election results, boyfriend, and English homework? Tomorrow, why aren't you here yet? WAH.


Current Music: Mary Jane - Alanis Morissette

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scribbled mystickeeper at 1:24 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:

Man, I just wrote a long comment but I deleted it accidently. Oh wells. I voted today and it felt great.

I recently wrote an entry about Father Randy and how I'll miss him, and mentioned that I didn't go to mass (mainly cuz I didn't have time, but also because I would rather remember his kindness than get upset at a tape recording). Needless to say I was taken out of context. Foolishly, I reacted and responded to the comment, but whatever. Things like this pass between friends and hey, if you react the only fair thing for me to do is to counter-react. :P

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:57 PM, November 07, 2006  

Don't worry, Eunice, I got your back! (I left a comment) In fact, I feel partly responsible - I invited her to my "Boycott Mass in Madison on November 5th" Facebook group. Needless to say, she hasn't joined, :)

I'm glad voting felt good! I also felt a bit euphoric when I put my absentee ballot in the mailbox.

By Blogger mystickeeper, at 4:54 PM, November 07, 2006  

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