(Registrar Jim Clements processing my 2018 application for absentee in-person early voting in Culpeper).

I am one of those irreconcilable voters. Speaker Pelosi termed us “enemies of the state” in one of her recent public declarations about the state of things. Apparently it was in between trips to the beauty salon prohibited to the rest of us, but that is the way of things in this demonstrably strange year. My neighbor grew up in Crimea, in the old USSR, and she reacts with negativity to the use of a phrase that used to include trips to the Gulag or a short walk to a solid concrete wall.

It is a fun year, since things that used to be held secret are now out on parade. There is a lot of controversy about exercising the franchise as you well know. That is what had me slightly on edge over the lovely Labor Day weekend. You know the feeling of dislocation. One day it is sunny and summer, and the next day- today- it is the beginning of Fall. Which of course it isn’t, not precisely, but close enough for the way things seem to work these days.

We used to have a phrase for it: “Close enough for Government work.”

That being the case, I watched the clock to see when I could call our registrar and see if the way things used to work are still the same. I am still having trouble walking- or just standing- and have opted to exercise my franchise in what our Commonwealth calls, euphemistically, a thing called “Absentee in Person” voting. I needed to talk to someone entrusted with safeguarding the votes to see if I can still participate in the manner I was used to.

Clearly it is the sort of question a lot of us are feeling in this cycle. In honor of the change of season, I called the registrar’s office in town, hoping to speak to Jim Clements, our registrar of voting. I had just a few questions for him and wanted to get them out of the way to avoid the general confusion that seems to be sweeping around us these days.
Here in the Old Dominion of Virginia, we have “early voting” up to 45 days prior to the General Election. It permits us to sashay into the local registrar’s office downtown and cast our ballot if we meet one or more of seventeen official excuses. At least that is the old way, and Jim is a professional at managing the system.

In the old days, you can apply for an absentee ballot and vote early in person. There used to be seventeen provisions to do so, mostly based on obligations to be elsewhere on Election Day. Jim is a good guy, and managed a couple laughs as we worked through the process as it stands. He reminded me that we no longer have to swear to anything, and in this cycle you can vote early if you have valid registration, a photo ID and just feel like it. No other paperwork required.

I am OK with those rigorous standards, made a note, and asked when we could start voting, and Jim said the 18th of September was the legal start of the show. He showed some courtesy, though, reminding me it would probably be less crowded in the Registrar’s office if I avoided Mondays or Fridays.

I won’t bore you with the old rules, but they were flexible enough that you could drive a truck through them, and a fairly large one. I used to use “medical exception” as my reason for early voting, and am grateful that all I have to do now is remember my wallet and show up. The question of “when” was also solved; I was estimating that the week of 20 September would enable me to blissfully ignore the vitriol and bombast of the end of the campaign.

So, questions answered, I thanked Jim for his service in this time of uncertainty. He took it with good humor, and I am glad he is on the job.

Aside from the valid physical geezer reasons, some of my pals have suggested that with COVID common sense precautions it would be an excellent time to not attend gatherings with any fellow citizens of any overt political orientation. Or mutter anything under my mask. And watch what I am thinking in public.

I intend to vote only once, but would like a caution cushion just in case larger events decide to play themselves out down here in the country. For the record, I intend to drive down to historic East Davis Street downtown, park across the street from the looming Boyhood Home of one of Lee’s Lieutenants, A.P. Hill, and cast my vote before whatever the October Surprise is going to be this year.

I am sensitive to the fact that knowing there were Confederates in this part of the Confederacy is frowned on these days. There are earnest discussions in progress about changing the name affixed to our reservoir. There is a lot of history to ignore in Culpeper County, but we are giving it our best shot.
Jim had made some minor news when he joined the County staff as assistant registrar a decade ago and overhauled the local voter registration website to make it more user-friendly. He has a reputation as being tech-savvy and a policy wonk, and has moved up in the hierarchy to handle this current crisis of democracy.
As General Registrar, Jim directs, plans and organizes voter registration and election administration. Specifically, he has to maintain an accurate voter registration list, make proper election preparations, plan and implement technology in the voting process. It is a big and important job for us local voters, and I think I can trust him. That feeling does not extend to Richmond, but what can you do?

Last time I voted downtown there were other issues, and some of them sadly have come to pass. But I did my duty. I voted.

This time some of the issues are bigger and painted in much starker colors. Apparently there are Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members rioting in cities across the country. I am having some trouble with reconciling that with other alleged facts, so it is worth telling the government what you actually think. They have been trying to impeach the incumbent President since before he took office, a remarkable and prescient development in our republic’s political soothsaying.

So, make sure you vote. It is what citizens are supposed to do. But I also recall the words of Mark Twain, who is said to have uttered these words about elections: “If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.” This cycle is likely to see some modification to that base truth, curiously inverted. My suspicion is that this time it is going to be smarter to vote yourself before someone else votes for you.

But screw it. Vote.

Copyright 2020 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com