And I'm late for my bus. I was planning on riding my bike in, but after huffing back to the stop by my home, I thought better of it.

So, I'm late. No big deal. I was at work until 10:15 last night.

This will be the last time I vote at the polls. Washington state will go to all-vote-by-mail starting next year. I'm mixed about that.

On the plus side, it's good to see people performing their sacred duty. I feel warmed to see my neighbors out and motivated.

On the down side, there is the matter that this raises yet another barrier to voting, however slight. Sure the parties will call those voting at the polling places and offer rides, but what if you're not in a major party, Sure, there are absentee ballots, but that requires planning.

Then again, shouldn't one plan to vote? After all, this isn roulette. Do we want to exclude those who vote by mentally flipping a coin or toss a die?

The founding fathers wanted only the landed to vote. Forget free and white, never mind male and 18. In order to vote, you had to own property, which required all of the above.

Is that fair? I say no. But, by limiting the electorate to the wealthy (and, by implication, educated) we managed to elect Jefferson and John Adams.

Of course, we also elected Andrew Jackson, who was no genius. Still, he did well. :)

Yes, we must enable suffarage to all those specified by law, within reasonable means.

We must also fight to ensure those in whom we place our country's future are educated also to the best of our abilities.

If some select few control the media, and if the voting masses have no tools to test the crafted messages...

Then aren't we right back to the few elites making our decisions for us?

Remember: "In a democracy, it's your vote that counts.

In feudalism, it's your count who votes."