Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Today is presidential primary day in Colorado. I have never voted before in a presidential primary because I am an unaffiliated voter. A few years ago, a law was passed in Colorado that moved the presidential primary vote from June to Super Tuesday to make Colorado more relevant on the political map. I am pretty sure that law was backed by the local news and radio stations so they could get advertising revenue.
Tom Steyer was in the first ads I saw several months ago. I still do not know who he is, but he dropped out of the race a week or so ago. I have been watching many, many Michael Bloomberg advertisements for the few months he has been running and, honestly, I do not mind them. Michael Bloomberg ads, for the most part, carry a very positive message, and if I am going to get inundated with political ads, the positive ones do not make me want to turn off the television.
I do not think most of the Democratic party hopefuls researched how elections are run in Colorado. We have mail-in elections in Colorado, which means many votes are cast starting three weeks before election day. Other than Michael Bloomberg and those old Tom Steyer ads, I did not see a single ad for another candidate until ten days ago, and most started a few days ago. Nearly one million ballots had already been turned in before they started counting yesterday morning. If Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders thought ads would help them in Colorado, they probably missed the boat. I am not sure I even saw a Joe Biden ad.
Because of our new primary law, unaffiliated voters get both a Democratic and Republican ballot. We can choose one to return without declaring for a party. If we return both ballots, they get thrown away and are not counted. I am sure most unaffiliated voters who chose to vote today chose the Democratic ballot, but we actually had five other names on the Republican ballot in addition to Donald Trump. I had heard that some states had decided not to hold Republican primaries, so I was happy to see Colorado did.
I researched the other five men on the Republican ballot. I guess all the republican women were too smart to try to take on the Donald Trump marketing machine. One man’s website stated he had withdrawn from the race, so that left four. One of the men seemed a little far-fetched with his ideas and another had a website that read the way politicians speak. I clicked on an issue and instead of immediately addressing that particular issue, they placed an unrelated paragraph about why I should vote for him. I read that paragraph on the home page. Answer the question I asked, do not tell me what you want me to hear.
I could choose to vote for a Democratic candidate, although my first choice dropped out a few weeks ago. Four out of the five candidates left have good and bad qualities. There is another woman still in the race, but none of the news channels ever say her name. I looked her up online and her name is Tulsi Gabbard. I do not think I heard her name before today.
Do I vote FOR a democrat? Do I vote AGAINST Donald Trump just for fun? Do I throw both ballots away and choose not to vote in the primary like I did when I got them for the 2018 general election primaries? I voted no when the new voting law was on the ballot. My theory is that if I really want to vote in a party primary, I can declare for a party and vote. The only time I even considered voting in a presidential primary before today was when Elizabeth Dole ran for president in 2000. I would have declared Republican to vote for her. Alas, she dropped out of the race before anyone got the chance to vote for her.
My piece of advice to you is to vote. Democratic, Republican, Unaffiliated, whatever! My significant other and I usually cancel each other out when we fill out our ballots, but we still vote. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
Today is presidential primary day in Colorado. I have never voted before in a presidential primary because I am an unaffiliated voter. A few years ago, a law was passed in Colorado that moved the presidential primary vote from June to Super Tuesday to make Colorado more relevant on the political map. I am pretty sure that law was backed by the local news and radio stations so they could get advertising revenue.
Tom Steyer was in the first ads I saw several months ago. I still do not know who he is, but he dropped out of the race a week or so ago. I have been watching many, many Michael Bloomberg advertisements for the few months he has been running and, honestly, I do not mind them. Michael Bloomberg ads, for the most part, carry a very positive message, and if I am going to get inundated with political ads, the positive ones do not make me want to turn off the television.
I do not think most of the Democratic party hopefuls researched how elections are run in Colorado. We have mail-in elections in Colorado, which means many votes are cast starting three weeks before election day. Other than Michael Bloomberg and those old Tom Steyer ads, I did not see a single ad for another candidate until ten days ago, and most started a few days ago. Nearly one million ballots had already been turned in before they started counting yesterday morning. If Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders thought ads would help them in Colorado, they probably missed the boat. I am not sure I even saw a Joe Biden ad.
Because of our new primary law, unaffiliated voters get both a Democratic and Republican ballot. We can choose one to return without declaring for a party. If we return both ballots, they get thrown away and are not counted. I am sure most unaffiliated voters who chose to vote today chose the Democratic ballot, but we actually had five other names on the Republican ballot in addition to Donald Trump. I had heard that some states had decided not to hold Republican primaries, so I was happy to see Colorado did.
I researched the other five men on the Republican ballot. I guess all the republican women were too smart to try to take on the Donald Trump marketing machine. One man’s website stated he had withdrawn from the race, so that left four. One of the men seemed a little far-fetched with his ideas and another had a website that read the way politicians speak. I clicked on an issue and instead of immediately addressing that particular issue, they placed an unrelated paragraph about why I should vote for him. I read that paragraph on the home page. Answer the question I asked, do not tell me what you want me to hear.
I could choose to vote for a Democratic candidate, although my first choice dropped out a few weeks ago. Four out of the five candidates left have good and bad qualities. There is another woman still in the race, but none of the news channels ever say her name. I looked her up online and her name is Tulsi Gabbard. I do not think I heard her name before today.
Do I vote FOR a democrat? Do I vote AGAINST Donald Trump just for fun? Do I throw both ballots away and choose not to vote in the primary like I did when I got them for the 2018 general election primaries? I voted no when the new voting law was on the ballot. My theory is that if I really want to vote in a party primary, I can declare for a party and vote. The only time I even considered voting in a presidential primary before today was when Elizabeth Dole ran for president in 2000. I would have declared Republican to vote for her. Alas, she dropped out of the race before anyone got the chance to vote for her.
My piece of advice to you is to vote. Democratic, Republican, Unaffiliated, whatever! My significant other and I usually cancel each other out when we fill out our ballots, but we still vote. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.