I keep wanting to write about this in The Outpost but never get around to it so here goes: I count myself among those who found School District 2's mail-in ballot highly unsatisfying. I get a vague but genuine swelling of pride from walking into American Lutheran Church and casting my ballot in person. It makes me feel better the rest of the day.

But this felt more like a paperwork exercise. I kept putting it off, like paying taxes. If the issues hadn't been so important, I might not have voted at all.

Obviously, that's a minority view. Turnout was probably double what it would have been in a normal election. That tells me that:

1. People are too damn lazy or shy to vote in person.
2. People like paperwork.
3. A lot of voters cast mail-in ballots who otherwise would have passed up the opportunity. I have to wonder about people who were motivated enough to invest a stamp but would have been too poorly motivated to actually go into a polling booth. Suppose they were motivated enough to really try to understand what was at stake?
4. Employers are insufficiently flexible in allowing workers off for a few minutes to go serve their country and vote.
5. Election Day ought to be a holiday. As I (and others) have argued, tie the general election in November in with Veterans Day, hold parades with marching bands, salute the flag, recite the Gettysburg Address, and just generally make all the slackers who don't bother to vote feel like the worthless slugs they are. People are dying for that right, dammit!
6. Or some combination of the above (except No. 2). Or I am overlooking something altogether.