Boxing

 Back in the days of Nixon and all those people, Americans actually had to go to their local polling places to vote. We would often stand in line for hours, and the only benefit, besides the utter joy of feeling that our vote made a difference, was that we got to stand in the hallway of the elementary school or the church vestry and see what was going on the in the worlds of education and religion while we waited our chance to get in the booth and pull the handle and do our thing.

Of course, now there are other ways to vote. Sure, you can still go to the polling place on election day if you wish, but there are going to be far fewer of them this year due to the you-know, and the lines might be long.  

The alternative is to vote on paper, either by mailing it in or dropping it off at a secure box at one of the election sites. We dropped ours off the other day at the Honeygo Run Regional Park, which is not only a magnificent park featuring two lighted ball diamonds, three athletic fields (one artificial, two lighted), a 13,000 square foot indoor rec center (where the voting machines will be), a lighted roller hockey court, an ADA-accessible playground, two picnic pavilions with space for 60, a pedestrian bridge to make for safe access for the neighbors across Honeygo Boulevard, plenty of parking, and a beautiful path and trail system to take hikers through the park's wooded areas.

(I always like to enumerate the great things at the park for those who bellyache and say they "don't git nothin'" for their tax money.)

Oh, and there's also the Perry Paw Dog Park, where for a nominal annual fee, one gains access to a fenced in area, one for big pooches and one for anklebiters, where Marmaduke and Daisy can run to their heart's content.

Anyway, the collection box is there now, the place will be open for early voting as the election draws closer, and of course they're there all day on Nov 3. 

Meanwhile, down in Anne Arundel County, election officials report that person or persons unknown are going door to door, claiming to be from the election office, and offering the kind service of collecting your ballot and taking it to the drop box.

Of course, this is totally bogus, and while I have to wonder about the gullibility of someone who would hand over their precious franchise to some random door-to-door salesman like that guy on Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Nowhere in the instructions for your vote-by-mail does it say that an official will be coming to your house to collect your ballot. Take it to the correct location. Vote for whomever you please, but vote!