Image of the day: I voted!

Here in Oregon, we vote by mail.  I turned in my ballot the day after I found it in my mailbox.  It seems like that was long time ago--nearly two weeks is like eons in the Twitter age!

The state's election site offers a feature that I used to make sure that my vote was in.

It also confirms to readers of this blog, and to students who visit here, that I am not affiliated with any party.  It is for two main reasons:

From a personal perspective, there is no way a single party can represent all my political preferences. So, party identification is out.
From a professional perspective, not being affiliated with a party means that I can be that much more at ease as an equal-opportunity-critic, and my students can be that much more convinced that the focus is on the substance, not on any ideology.

I don't understand, however, why people think that voting is the ultimate thing.  If people choose not to vote, well, that is also equally democratic.  Only in a democracy, after all, does one get that right not to be compelled into anything.  The bad old USSR often reported that 99.9 percent of the people approved of the candidates, and left me wondering what ever happened to that 0.1 percent that didn't.  Off to the Club Med gulag in Siberia?

So, hey, if there is anybody reading this who has not voted, I urge you to vote.  But, if you choose not to, well, I respect your choice.