Voted

So it was, as usual, a great feeling to go out and vote this morning. It was a little warmer today than I had expected, which was pleasant. I even actually felt OK with walking though piles of leaves to get to the polling place (usually not a fan of fall, because it means summer is over.)

I generally dress up a little bit on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I have class those nights and I have made a bit of a deal about being trans in both classes. Today I put a little extra effort into my looks so I could go to the polls and express myself as a transwoman in that context as well. I wore my new calf-length beige skirt and a purple top, my black jacket with a sparkly purple scarf, my purple houndstooth print socks & my black mary janes. I didn't feel intimidated at all, I think I'm finally over the shyness, and said my name (still legally my old boy name) and took my card and went to the booth. I would like to acknowledge that the poll helpers were all cheerful and helpful. That made me smile.

As to how I voted -- I don't mind saying. I voted straight D, I think in my district that was the right thing to do. There's a trans voting guide being circulated by MTPC and for me, the Ds were pretty uniformly in favor of the trans rights bill that has been hanging around our state congress for a while now. As someone who's pretty lefty anyway, I was actually mostly OK with those choices.

Of course, I'm not really a Democrat, so there were a couple of races where I felt like I wanted to vote differently, but circumstances forced me to just vote the straight ticket against my own desires in three races in particular. I voted for Patrick for governor, in spite of having a strong preference for Jill Stein. Grumble, grumble. Jill is an acquaintance and I like her a whole lot. She has fought hard for a number of issues that I stand strongly in favor of. One of those issues is to change the way we vote from "either / or" to a more "first choice / second choice" model, which I think would be very democratizing and would ultimately serve the people much better. I was really wishing for that this morning.

I also held my nose and voted for Martha Coakley. I am not sure she's very good at her job, and I am so angry with her about the egregious senatorial campaign she ran last year that I really wanted to just leave her office's race blank on my ballot. Once again, there was a scary "R" next to the other name in that race, so Martha got a gimme. I think she counts on them, actually.

There was a Green / Rainbow candidate in the State Auditor's race, named Nat Fortune, who I was going to assuage my guilt and vote for, but ultimately, there was that scary "R" again. grrr.

There were 3 questions on the ballot related to reducing taxation & regulation, and I voted against all of them. There were 2 non-binding human rights questions that I wholeheartedly voted for. As a transwoman and a Buddhist, I absolutely believe health care is a right, and that no government should be making laws supporting one religion in detriment to another.

So there you go. I do feel like it was a great thing to get to the polls, it does make me glad I'm living in a somewhat-democracy when I go to the polls and feel like some of my candidates have a chance of getting in, and that my voice is being heard. I hope you voted today, too.