When I woke this morning in my Central Pennsylvania home, there was an OBAMA sign in my front yard that I neither put there nor authorized. It is my lot in life to live very near a polling place, which I usually think of as a pleasant convenience except that it can be difficult to make a left-hand turn into traffic on Election Day.
I felt about the sign much the same way I felt about the first dandelions of Spring, that I found blooming in my yard last night when I got home from work. Except that the dandelions are inevitable, while the Obama sign was put there deliberately by some human who does not care who I'm going to vote for or what I think.
The local Obama organization does know, actually, that I am an undecided voter, because they sent a canvasser to my door, and that's what I told her, last Saturday. She checked a column on a list.
I picked the dandelions, and I took the sign down. I'm going to finish my coffee and go vote. I'll decide while I'm in the shower whether the discourtesy shown to my household is going to influence which lever I pull, in the voting booth. I woke up undecided. The incident kind of steams me off. It's also discourteous to the Republican who lives at this address, not just to me.
By the way, it's supposed to be a sunny, pleasant day here. That should increase turnout by less committed voters. It will help Republicans get a decent turn-out today, probably. Good for democracy, I suppose. In my district they are responsible for choosing a candidate for Congress today, a candidate likely (once they've selected him) to retain John Peterson's seat in the House. I'm a little worried that low-information Republican voters are going to vote for Matt Shaner just because they've seen more yard signs with his name on them.
Yard signs. They're actually intended for low-information voters, I suppose. Just a name. No issue statements, no program ideas, just a name. Vote for me because I said so. Memorize my name and pull a lever for it just because you recognize it on the ballot after seeing it many times.