[BigV]

Tomorrow is election day here. Twil and I just voted. I have to say that I believe our election system in Washington has many things going for it.

1 - - Vote by mail. We've had our ballots for about two weeks now. It requires considerable effort to have a legitimate case for tardiness, procrastination notwithstanding.

2 - - Postage paid return envelopes. Come on. There have always been ballot drop boxes around, now every mailbox is one, presuming you deposit it in time. You still need to have it postmarked by election day. Your petty four-bit excuse is old and busted.

3 - - OCR ballots. I know this isn't very novel, but it is very easy and durable and hack resistant. And it those attributes apply to recounts as well as audits. I've voted "electronically" before and this is waaaaay better.

4 - - This is a primary election. Our primary system decides the two candidates who will appear on the ballot in the general election in November. The top two vote getters in each race get onto the ballot in the general election. No Party <strike> bullshit
/ interference / control </strike> regulation of *your* choice for the best candidate.

I like it. We also have a very robust system of initiatives and referenda which sometimes produces results I don't agree with, but it is as small "d" democratic as it gets.

There's room for improvement too. I wish our state allocated our electoral votes in proportion to the popular vote like a couple states do now. This would dilute our blue blue bloc, but I think it would fairer.

I hope you all vote too!