From the Eyes of Yours Truely

So, as some of my readers know, I am registered to vote in California, and thus, voted at my local polling place this morning. (The Deaf Center a few blocks from the Occidental College Campus). I went at 11:30, right after I got out of my morning class, and at that time the line wasn't too long- I waited about 45 minutes to vote, and that was mainly due to a rush of Oxy students...all coming to vote during their lunch break. Unfortunately, since I didn't receive a sample ballot in the mail, and thus didn't bring that or think to bring another piece of mail to prove my address, as a first time voter I had to vote with a provisional ballot. Annoying, but not a big deal. I imagine many Oxy students who were registered close to the deadline had this problem - on the provisional ballot roll, I recognised at least the two other names immediately above my own. At any rate, I managed to vote, got a chuckle out of a student from a one of my classes last year running for a state level position as a libertarian, (Tom Logan), and got the coveted "I voted" sticker.

I also got a kick out of seeing a student at the polls I know that Oxy for Obama managed to register for the first time. Proof that all our efforts weren't for nothing.

But I've deviated a bit from the subject of this blog - Proposition 8. Outside of my polling location, there were No on 8 demonstrators holding signs and passing out leaflets (outside of the required 100ft of course). Beyond one rather enthusiastic man handing me fliers that appeared to be home made and NOT from the No on 8 campaign, the demonstrators were fairly timid and passive. There were no Yes on 8 demonstrators present, either before or after I voted. My guess as to why is fairly straightforward: A significant amount of the voters going to this polling location would be from Oxy, considered to have the "most liberal student body in the country" according to Princeton Review. Students from Oxy are unlikely to be voting or demonstrating for yes on 8, and other groups probably could see their efforts as being more worthwhile elsewhere.

That being said, in the van on the way back from the polling location another student told me that a coworker had her house vandalized. The woman had a No on 8 sign on her lawn, and someone had spray painted "fags" on the side of the house. I guess our area isn't necessarily as blatantly liberal as I thought.