The Editor's Back Fence

Have you been supporting Steyer, Buttigieg or Klobuchar? Did you get an absentee ballot? Are you afraid that now your vote won’t count on Super Tuesday? Fear not, or at least take hope.

I ran into my longtime neighbor Doris, who was a poll worker for many years, on College Avenue today.

She quickly sketched out a menu of options, depending on your circumstances, which she had researched since the three departed the race. It was too late for me to check with the County Clerk, but I trust Doris.

1. You haven’t filled out your absentee (“vote by mail”) ballot yet. Just throw it away and vote in person, or fill it out at home for your new choice and deliver it yourself, or mail it as usual.
2. You have already filled out your ballot, but you haven’t turned it in yet, either by mail or in person. No problem, just throw it away and go in to vote in your local polling place. The in-person vote is the one which will be counted.
3. You have already mailed or delivered your ballot. You can still go to your polling place and vote in person for your new choice. This will give you a fighting chance, because whichever vote is counted first by the officials will be the one that is recorded—but there’s no way to know.

Me? I always vote in person and I’m still voting for Elizabeth Warren. I talked to my friend Carol in North Carolina about this today. She’d been out canvassing for Warren with her daughter, and (an exact quote) she said that they’d be “mighty pissed if it came down to nothing but another choice between two Old Straight White Guys.”

Don’t get me wrong, some of my nearest and dearest are in that demographic, but isn’t it time to try something else? Especially if the best qualified candidate is a woman.