4 Nov 2020

Naaaah not really.

I’m fed up with all the US elections talk. The news website I look at is just full of articles about how the counting is going in the election. The only NON election article is about a video game called Crash Bandicoot. Even that doesn’t interest me.

Mind you – I don’t watch the endless reporting about counting in Australian elections either, happy to wait until the result is announced before I pay attention. The hypotheticals and suppositions, and all the learned people talking non stop, drives me batty. Ok more batty.

But I do have a couple of things I’d like the answer to, if any of you are a full bottle on the US and their political system.

1. Why do people have to queue for so long to vote? Surely there is the option of having more polling places, or more staff working, to speed up the process? In our elections I feel a bit put out if I have to queue for 10-15 minutes, but apparently there have been 9 hour queues in the States! No wonder people don’t vote if they don’t have to… which leads me to….

2. In Australia, voting is compulsory. Not for local council, but for state and federal politics. It seems strange to us that people have the option of not bothering. What would happen in places like the US if everyone HAD to have a say?

3. That’s it. That’s all I have to comment on about that election. None of us can hold our own political systems up for scrutiny of the world and claim we have the perfect system, or the perfect politicians. It’s just that the American politicians – or a few of them, anyway – ok, one – are quite ..umm…..interesting.

4. Americans seeking to relocate to Australia should be aware of our rather strict quarantine controls at the moment, just in case. You’re welcome, but please wash your hands and wear a mask. Oh and no guns.

5. Back to point number one – do Americans have sausage sizzles on election days? In Australia it’s always a bit of an excuse for someone to do a bit of fundraising while people are out doing their civic duty, so surely if you have Americans stuck in a voting queue for nine hours it’s ideal time for Girl Guides to sell some cookies or something?

Yesterday I successfully avoided a horse race that supposedly stood out nation. It didn’t stop me, nor people I saw while I was out and about while that race was being run.

Today I’m semi-successful in avoiding an election in another country. It’s not as easy because quite frankly the media coverage is a lot more intense.

One horse had to be put down after yesterday’s race, so let’s hope there aren’t any fatalities in the political race today.