Tuesday 4 November 2008

Vote for Eddie

As I said it’s so different to UK elections… For a start, there are more than 20 separate votes on the ballot paper. Obviously top of the list is the presidential vote, but then there are votes for Congress, the state Senate, the clerk to the court, loads more. We met Eddie Lewis tonight, who is running for property appraiser (basically the guy who values how much your home/ property is worth, which you’re then taxed on). And no, he’s not running on a ‘vote for me, I’ll say your home is worth much less than it is’ ticket. His pitch is ‘integrity’ and ‘trust’. He spent 18 years in the Marines, and another 18 in the police force. It’s a non-party political post, but there are a couple of Democrats and a couple of Republicans in the field.

There are also issues to vote on: the big one is Amendment 2, which would outlaw civil partnerships. There are others on tax incentives for wind turbines, hurricane protection, land conservation… As you can imagine, this is all rather confusing for the voters, the vast majority of whom have just turned out to vote for Obama. (NB we were in Little Haiti; didn’t meet many – or any – McCain supporters).

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