Another vote cast...

[vakkotaur]

I voted today. A problem came up in Fairmont involving the number of liquor licenses the city is allowed to issue.

This vote was at the same location, almost, as the general election in November. It was in the same building, but in a different room. Instead of following a left-pointing arrow to the voting area one followed a right-pointing arrow once inside.

There, the split of ward and precinct was in place as usual so the load of voting was distributed. There was only the one, city-wide, issue so load distribution was the sole purpose served by this division.

It took me a bit longer than expected as I had to fill out registration information again. It seems everyone who registered in November had to do it again. The suspicion was that registrations are processed shortly before the next regularly scheduled election and that had yet to happen. This vote came up rather suddenly, which explains the unusual timing of it, being in mid-January. I was recognized as having filled out the forms before, however. Wearing my wool cloak, hat, and gauntlet style gloves does leave an impression, and I had worn them when I voted in November.

The vote was simple enough, being a single issue which the local newspaper explained well even if the wording on the ballot left something to be desired. The only hassles were the filling out of registration information again and having to vote over lunch. Well, I could have waited and voted after work as the polls are open until 8:00 PM, but I prefer to vote early. The polls did not open until 11:00 AM today, so voting before work as I usually do wasn't an option.

There wasn't a huge crowd, but the place wasn't empty either. While it started out a quite cold day (woke up to sub-zero temperatures) the temperature rose to something not too bad for January in MN, and the streets were clear of what little snow fell overnight. I expect a fair turnout if what I saw was a representative sample of things.

Oh, and I did get a little "I voted" sticker this time.