New York Finally Joins The Nation in the Modern Voting Age

Several months ago, I participated in a demonstration of the new way we in New York State would vote.

Today it was for real.

Luckily, our precinct is never very crowded.  I wonder when, in fact, it will be merged with another precinct.  For now, it's in walking distance of home, which is nice.  But, although NY voting is supposed to start at 6am, my polling place doesn't open until noon.  This means I have to vote after work, but that's OK.

The people who signed us in also gave us a quick "how to".  We were given a paper ballot, went to a four-occupant corral to fill in the ballot with a special pen, then went to the machine to feed it in.  You watched a screen to see if the ballot was accepted.

For both spouse and myself, it went quickly and without a problem.  It helped that there were only four items to vote on.

Nearby Binghamton is electing their mayor.  At least one co-worker was blase, saying "one is just like the other."  She decided not to vote this year.

I wonder what the turnout in Johnson City was like.   Were their polls crowded?  Apparently region wide, turnout was very light so it wasn't just our little precinct.  Whether that favors dissolution of Johnson City or not, I really don't know.

Spouse still thinks it will fail. In a few hours we will know.

The polls here close at 9pm so it may be a while until we know if Johnson City is no more (politically speaking, that is) or not. Once again, stay tuned.