I voted at San Francisco City Hall today. Good government: well organized, quick, easy, & efficient

[NBachers]

I took the bus down to City Hall and voted after work today. I gotta say, the city has set up a large and efficient voting facility. Big space, plenty of booths, friendly & helpful staff; I was in and out in 20 minutes. Government works best when they don't try to sabotage peoples' voting process.

I usually like to visit my friendly next-door precinct station and vote with my neighbors on Voting Day, but I wanted to get my vote in early this time.

I tried to fill out my vote-by-mail form last night. I used a Sharpie; I figured, "This'll fill in those spaces so they can't be missed!" BZZZZT WRONG! When I turned the first sheet over, I saw that all the blanks I'd filled in had bled through to the other side. I figured once they'd run the sheet through the tabulator, all these extra random black marks would start bells ringing and alarms going off. Thus, the trip to City Hall today. Remember, kids: Use the right pen to fill in the blanks, and if you have any questions, ask a mature and capable grownup!

[murielm99]

1. I am glad someone else is admitting something like this.

I filled in my ballot with a #2 pencil. My husband, who used a black pen, told me that I had done it wrong. The machine would not read my ballot.

I called the clerk's office. She told me I could surrender my ballot and vote early.

My husband put his ballot in the drop box. I went inside and voted early.

All done. I am glad he was there to see that I was doing something that would have disqualified my vote.

[NBachers]

3. See? And we'll both never make those mistakes again. A learning experience.

[Sherman A1]

2. Excellent