- By Dan Veaner
- Opinions
Sometimes people assume that I can predict who will win local elections because as Lansing's gadfly I am supposed to be 'in the know.' The fact is that I usually have too much information. I talk to the candidates first hand to provide our election coverage, and can look into their eyes and listen to what they say, follow up with questions. It's a unique privilege, because I get to make my own voting decision based on first hand experience, rather than having to rely on my and others' reporting. It's even more fun when you know the people who are running.
But it also means that I am not getting my information the same way everyone else is, and that means I am notoriously bad at predicting who will win. This year I knew who I thought should win, but I didn't know if they would. The only local candidate I could predict would win with 100% confidence was William Burin, who ran for his fifth term as one of Lansing's two Town Justices. But anyone could have predicted that -- he ran unopposed.
Over the years I've watched national newscasters call races that weren't over, often influencing the result by calling them too early. That is especially a problem in national elections as people on the West Coast decide there is no point in voting because some candidate or other has already won, according to television news.
I think that stinks. Whatever kind of person I am, I know I can be proud that I show up to vote. Voting is a privilege we don't even have to earn -- we're just born to it because we live in a country that values each and every vote.
I was offended by the many people who told me that President Bush was not their president (after all, Ithaca is a largely liberal community). Or the same for Obama. The fact is that they are our presidents because of the unique benefit that we get to vote. Voting means that we collectively get to choose, and if our choice isn't the winner we still got to weigh in on the choice. And then we get to weigh in again four years later. And when our choice wins he is the other people's president as much as ours.
I love getting to go to the polls and pull levers and see how my vote stacks up as the results are made available. I even love getting that 'I voted' sticker afterwards.
I don't like to write about my choices because I think the Star should be as neutral as humanly possible. But my personal choices are not necessarily my predictions. So I can say that I was surprised this year -- I was mostly right. That's part of the fun, too.
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