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Interesting VA Early Voting Experience Today [1]

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Date: 2023-10-17  

I voted early today in Frederick County, VA.

I voted for Emily Scott for State Senate District 1 and Steven Foreman for House of Delegates District 31. Both are Democrats. That is not the interesting part, except that I was glad to have worthy candidates under the Democrats’ banner for whom to vote.

I was virtually accosted by some women Republicans at the polling place. They asked if I needed (not wanted) a sample ballot. I politely declined. One of the women then said more forcefully, “You can get one from the woman right over there!” I again declined and explained that I had done my research. (Yes, I chose that word intentionally, meaning the opposite of the how the word is twisted by some to mean finding support for my preconceived ideas online from sources critical thinkers would find disreputable.) The woman then exclaimed, and I mean exclaimed: “But the candidates party isn’t shown on the ballot for all races!” Wow. So, it is unthinkable to her that I might want to vote for someone other than Republicans. That is not interesting but sad — maybe even disturbing.

Before going to the polls, I had already researched the candidates for offices for which I am eligible to vote. Well, as well as one can for some local offices. I knew that I would cast my vote for some Republicans/former Republicans running as independents. Why? Because in each of those races, my choice was an extremist Republican or the “independent” and the independents have good credentials for the posts they seek. One of persons getting my vote was actually cast out of the local Republican Party for, based on what I can glean, endorsing an independent candidate over the anointed local party choice in another race. Ok, that is semi-interesting. There are Republicans in deep red areas who are not cowed by the extremist faction of their party — at least those who think they have another path to garnering the necessary votes to win (or make inroads for the next election cycle perhaps).

This is where it gets truly interesting. The Frederick First group (the slate of persons (formerly, maybe, probably still?) Republican of some stripe) running as independents had a staffed booth in the parking lot. I decided to go chat and let them know I had voted for some of their candidates. They were very pleasant to talk to, and I learned some interesting tidbits about local affairs. We were able to discuss similar and different points of view in a genuinely amiable way. Granted, they are looking for votes but I had already voted, so, they did not have that much to gain through feigned friendliness. They also made sense on a number of issues and were well informed about local area needs, such as schools operating over capacity, poor land use decision-making, the foundation of the area’s economy. Some people might have taken one look at these people and written them off as good ol’ boys. (Funny aside: some of the signs the Republicans had at the location called these people both good ol’ boys and Democrats. In this area, denigrating good ol’ boys isn’t likely to win a lot of hearts and minds.) I like looking deeper. One of the men, adamantly, declared the local Republic Party adherents “insane” and stated that we absolutely had to move away from elevating party over addressing local needs properly. That is what I found most interesting.

Here’s to sanity prevailing in my district and yours and throughout the country!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/17/2200001/-Interesting-VA-Early-Voting-Experience-Today?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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