Hope you voted, folks

Did you vote? As I write this, Alice and I haven’t voted yet, but we plan to.

By the time this is read, it’ll all be over but the shouting. And the cries of fraud, if certain candidates – those who only accept election results if they win – lose.

Many years my wife and I have early voted, but this year, for some reason, Alice has decided she wants to wait until election day. No biggie to me what day we vote. So that’s what we’ll do. And then we’ll go load up on pancakes, which is a biggie to me. I do love my pancakes. It’s part of Americana – life, liberty and the pursuit of pancakes.

There’s quite a ballot this year, but it’s not too bad. It shouldn’t take too long. At least, it won’t if a voter already knows how he/she is gonna vote when they get to the polls.

That’s why I appreciate the sample ballots printed in the paper. It helps to remind me of who’s running for what, and I can get settled a bit. It’s much more helpful than all the cotton pickin’ signs that have sprung up all over creation (but not in my yard, dadgum it). And It gives me one more chance to ponder, one more time, the proposed amendments.

I other words, I already know for whom I will vote, and how I will vote on the ballot issues. Piece of cake.

Oh, another word about those signs. It didn’t take long for those colorful forests of campaign signs to go up. I wonder how quickly they’ll come down, now that the election is over? Not that I’m cynical about such things. Much.

I notice that the early vote has been rather vigorous. I hope it’s the same on election day. If there is a good turnout, then no one – myself included, alas – will have a gripe about how it turns out. I, myself am not one of those who starts yelling fraud even before the election, just in case my candidate loses. You have to trust some things.

Speaking of trust, I think things are more trustworthy today than they used to be. My mother claimed to have voted in a Memphis election when she was 15. She voted, of course, for Mr. Crump’s lineup. She also said her dad and others would go across the bridge into Arkansas, pick up field hands, give them a shot of whiskey and a dollar or two, and bring them across to vote – again for Mr. Crump’s lineup.

How were they able to vote if they weren’t registered? Well, according to the tale, there were entire cemeteries of registered folks who were resurrected to lend their names to these, er, voters. Of course, this could all be nothing but a rumor or tall tale. Could be.

I admit, I’m looking forward to voting on election day. Even though we’ve done our share of early voting, there’s something about the atmosphere surrounding the casting of one’s vote on election day. There’s a kind of excitement in the air, that isn’t there when you go to early vote.

I used to spend most election day evenings at the courthouse, waiting for the votes to come in, finding out who won and who lost so I could write them up for the next day’s paper. I’ve even made that trip to the courthouse a few times since I retired, just to be there as the different precincts and wards were announced. It’s fun to know before almost everybody else. I may do it again this year, if Alice will let me.

•••••

Time for a leaf update: Today there was a brisk wind, and through a window I noticed that there was a veritable blizzard of leaves outside. I went outside and saw that most of the flying leaves were ones that had already fallen and were simply being picked up and tossed by the wind. There were still plenty of leaves in the trees.

Be nice if they’d all fall at once. But whoever said Nature was nice? Ma Nature is large and in charge, so she doesn’t have to be nice. Guess that’s one of the perks of being boss.

•••••

Back to elections, we can all hope that it will die down for a while now. I especially dislike all the ads on TV and social media in particular, on races in other states. Even worse, there is also a lot of commentary on these races – races that I can’t even vote in. Can we get a break from that for a while?

Of course, we know it won’t be much of a break. After all, this was the so-called “off-year” election. Now all those who are hopeful, spiteful or hopeless will start gearing up for a presidential year election. I’m sure it will be every bit as nasty as the last few elections have been.

But can we just have a bit of peace, if only for a little while?

(EDITOR’S NOTE: David Nichol is a freelance writer who retired from the Times-Herald. He can be contacted at nicholdb@cablelynx.com.)