It's Election Day in the USA!

I never get one of those "I voted" stickers, so I had to find a photo of someone else's to post here.

I have voted "permanent absentee" for at least the last half-dozen years. In California, that means I vote by mail, even though I'm almost never out of state, let alone out of town, on Election Day (although I truly was an absentee voter for this year's June primary).

The vote-from-home, mail-it-in ballot makes dealing with California's runaway ballot-initiative system almost manageable. When you have to read and vote on more than a dozen propositions--which may include some that contradict others on the same ballot, and which are all written in some variation of legalese--it helps if you can sit comfortably and spend time with them. But after spending time with this year's propositions, I was willing to vote for just one more--a ballot initiative to get rid of ballot initiatives and actually force our elected representatives to do the jobs they were elected to do.

I mailed in my ballot for today's elections two weeks ago, which has given me blissful freedom to ignore the last-minute political-advertising blitz (from all sides, for the record). I've played my small part in this--I'm glad to have done it, and glad that it's done. I do wish they'd mail me a little sticker with my ballot, though.

Are you registered and eligible to vote? Have you done it already? If not, why are you hanging around here? Voting is your right and your privilege--go exercise it!

By the way...

While you're in a voting mood, why not submit your votes in the opening round of the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards? Choose your favorites from 15 nominees in 20 categories--or write in your picks, if they're eligible! (I did.) First-round voting closes on November 10, and you can vote from anywhere--the only thing you need is to be a Goodreads member!