The Election

Like most of the material on this blog, I got this idea while trying to determine What's a Delmer Look Like. Plus it has pictures. But no flirting, I'm married.

There is a polling location right a across the street from my house. It is the township hall for my unincorporated township. It's what passes for government when you live in the boondocks. I can walk there in 2 minutes but it's not where I vote because I am in a different precinct. The dividing line is the road between the Icy Estate and the Township Hall. I vote at a church that is 1.5 miles from my house and located in the same precinct. So the basic units of government go like this: Precinct -> Township -> Village or City (if applicable) -> County -> State -> USA. Any questions? Good, because that's not what I want to talk about.

The polling location (right across the street from my house) isn't really near any of the voters in the precinct so almost everyone must drive to get there. Usually, this isn't a problem because nobody goes to the township hall unless they need a permit to build a deck or they are retired and have nothing else to do but go to the monthly Township Trustees meeting. On voting day, however, the parking lot overflows into the grass, up the driveway and out onto the main road. It continues from 6 AM when the polls open until about 6:30 PM, about an hour before the polls close. This creates quite a traffic jam, but only every 4 years when we elect a President because otherwise all the voters fit in the parking lot quite nicely. The way the people act, you would think that every single one of them has a burning desire to vote that absolutely will not be denied. We always wonder where they all are when we're voting for the school levy in May.

But that's still not what I want to talk about. Four years ago, when we elected George W. to his second term, we had more excitement than usual. Being a township hall, located in the boonies, it doesn't have a brightly lit entrance with big imposing signs. It's right across the street, remember, I would have to mount a protest against light pollution. Here's a picture:



That's the entrance up on the left after the telephone pole. Not exactly well marked but there is a sign set back off the road with subtle lighting and the mailbox has reflective numbers on it. A half hour before the polls close, about 7PM, it is beginning to get dark since we have just set our clocks back one hour to save daylight. It was a nice day so Mrs. Icy and I were sitting on the front stoop and basking in our freedom to vote and then sit on a stoop. Gradually, in complete counterpoint to most of the traffic that day, a large sedan drove east, signalled a left turn and promptly turned left into the creekbed that you see on the left of the picture. The brake lights flared briefly and then the emergency flashers started. He must have called for help on a mobile phone because the ambulance beat us to the scene and the paramedics helped the guy out of his car. His family showed up a few minutes later and drove him home.

Unfortunately for him, by the time he regained his wits, the polls were closed and he could not cast his ballot. If he had, then Al Gore would have won Ohio and subsequently the Presidency. World history would have been completely different. Sorry, Delmer.