Also, too, because I like using the word “Capra-esque”

I sat down last Saturday with my voters guide, my list of endorsements, yadda, yadda, yadda, to complete my ballot. Alas, I discovered that my pen was bleeding through the ballot form, spoiling the ballot, which is read by an optical scanner. There was plenty of time (November 1st) to get a replacement ballot (and I'm only a couple of miles from the WashCo Elections Office), but it was still a nuisance.

And of course today it was raining. Ah well. Some places in the world, people risk getting murdered for trying to vote. I only risked getting wet. Cowboy up, Bill.

So I finally got my ballot done and dropped off at the library. (Why at the library? Because although I like Oregon's vote-by-mail system, I still miss the Capra-esque experience of going to some public place where other people in my neighborhood are voting too.)

By the way, the folks at the Elections Office explained to me that a bleed-through on a ballot doesn't necessarily "spoil" it if the mark doesn't happen in the narrowly-defined areas where the optical scanner is expecting to find marks. (Still, don't try this at home, kids!)

Ballots have to be physically received at your county election office by 8pm on Election Day, Tuesday, November 6, 2012. (Postmarks don't count.) Here are the drop-off sites by county.