Have pen, will vote

Ah, the good old days — TV dinners in the oven, percolators brewing coffee on the stove, electronic voting.

Yes, when I went to the polls in Euclid this afternoon, I was handed a paper ballot and led to a cubicle that had a pen attached to a wire chain. How times have changed.

A mere four months ago, I pushed a few buttons on an electronic screen and recorded my votes, then headed in to work knowing my vote was correct. Today, after performing what seemed like an SAT in which I colored in little circles on a piece of 11-by-14-inch paper, I tossed my ballot into a box and drove away wondering how long it would be before I know who my new City Council representative will be.

Yes, that's the second weird element to today's election — in my home city it's half primary, half general election. Because of a federal lawsuit against the City of Euclid regarding accusations of racial bias in the city's elections procedures, the City Council races were delayed from November until today.

The other oddity is that nowhere on my ballot did it say "president" or "presidential election." Instead, it said something about pick the one you want to be the party's nominee at the convention. Below that was a list of names I've seen before. I guessed that because these particular names were grouped together, that was where I should make my choice for the party's nominee. I probably won't know if I guessed right.

I can only imagine what November's election will be like.