A Pennsylvania Voter's Experience

Democratic Arrogance Combined with Republican Bias and the SNAFU
Principle Causes Unhappy Voter

By Austin Seraphin

I began supporting Ron Paul as soon as he announced his campaign last
year. Pennsylvania has had some remarkable efforts to get out Ron
Paul's name, and a general good feeling of expectation prevailed as we
neared voting day. I could hardly wait to go cast my vote for Ron Paul.

I became blind at birth, so my Mom offered to go with me to Borough
Hall, and to help fill out my ballot. The weather has finally become
vernal, so we quickly walked there. As we approached, I heard
good-natured talking. "Good," I thought, "some friendly activity around
the voting booth."

"Hello! Would you care for a sample democratic ballot?" a man asked
with forced cheer. Now that I replay his voice in my head, I recognize
it as belonging to the same guy who accosted me in my home at 10:50
this last Saturday, campaigning for Obama. "I'm voting republican." I
informed him. "Well, I don't really see that there's a contest for the
nomination there, but if you really want to vote republican, you can."
he chortled. I wanted to strangle him with my belt. By this point we
stood at the democratic table. "That's the Other table." he said,
saying the word "Other" contemptuously. We walked over to the "Other
table" only to find it completely unmanned. On the table, we saw
"Sample Republican Ballots," created by the Delaware County republican
chapter. Mom picked one up and looked at it. "I hate to tell you this,
but it doesn't even have Ron Paul on it." I went nuts. Not only did it
not have Ron Paul's name, it also did not have any of his three regular
and three alternate delegates. I smelled a rat..... a big hairy
mainstream Delaware County republican rat!

Mom suggested we go inside, and see what we would find. I felt so angry, and
wanted to confront someone right there, but going inside sounded like a
good idea. We went into the main voting area, and there we saw the real
ballots, with Ron Paul's name prominently on top, followed by John
McCain, and....mike Huckabee? Didn't the Huckster drop out? Apparently,
he actually suspended his campaign. What a dork. I happily told my mom
the names of the delegates and alternates, and she filled out the
ballot. She knew who I wanted to vote for as president, of course.

We walked over to the table to submit the ballot. The lady asked me for
some ID, which I presented. She then consulted her book. "Ok, Austin
Seraphin, democrat." My heart dropped through the floor. "Don't you
mean Austin Seraphin, republican?" "It says democrat here." The little
vision I do have began to take on a red hue. She called the courthouse.
They claimed to have my original registration, listing me as a
democrat.

At this point I need to tell a quick aside. When I turned eighteen in
1995, my Mom really wanted me to register to vote. I originally wanted
to register as an independent. My mom explained that when she and my
Dad first moved to our area, they couldn't find a mortgage. "It's too
bad you're not a registered republican," said their realtor, "or I
could get you a mortgage." She suggested I register as a republican in
case I ever wanted to buy a house in this area. This sounded like
pretty good logic. Because of that amazing story, I definitely remember
that I absolutely registered as a republican, way back when I turned
eighteen. I don't know what went wrong. I felt disgusted.

"Well, you could always vote democrat." the lady cheerfully proclaimed.
"I don't WANT to vote democrat." I said between my teeth. They gave me
a provisional ballot, but admitted that it probably wouldn't get
counted. "Should I include a long letter, explaining my position?"
"Uhh, I included a short note, explaining your position." They also
gave me a change of party card, not that it would do any good then. I
felt like such a duface: all those times they had registration cards at
meetups, people offered to fill one out for me, and I just said that I
didn't need to, over and over again.

I felt so enraged, and did fill out the ballot, but doubt it will
matter. In my bitterness, I wondered if maybe these people deserve
their fate, but the nice weather caused me to abandon that thought. I
also reminded myself that Pennsylvania uses electronic voting machines,
so how does anyone know their vote got counted? I tried not to dwell on
such negativity as I left the stupid voting area. We concluded our trip
to Borough hall with my mom ordering a bag of mulch delivered to her
house. This seemed fitting. Never assume anything, especially when
dealing with bureaucracies.