April 2, 2020

I vote all the time — as a matter of ritual and civic duty — but I will not go to the polls on April 7th, because of the coronavirus.

So I was interested in this question on the new Marquette poll of registered Wisconsin voters:
What are the chances that you will vote in the April 7 election for state Supreme Court, presidential primaries, and other offices – are you absolutely certain to vote, very likely to vote, are the chances 50-50, don’t you think you will vote or have you already voted either by absentee ballot or early in person voting?
My answer is "Will not vote," which is what only 4% of the respondents told the pollster. 55% said they were "Absolutely certain," 17% said "Very likely," 13% said they'd "Already voted," and 9% said they were "50-50." There's also a 2% that said they "Don't know." Even if we assume those "Don't knows" were all people who knew they were not going to vote, it only makes 6% that, like me, have decided not to vote.

I would like to vote, and I know there was a way to get an absentee ballot by mail, but it wasn't obvious how to do it and I chose not to look it up, because I have always been an in-person voter. But I don't want to get close to other people. I know I'm not actively excluded from voting. I could have done something. But I didn't. I resisted. I'm set in my way of voting. Part of it is that the Wisconsin primary isn't going to change anything about the presidential election.

But there is also a state Supreme Court seat to be determined. I might have an opinion about that.

Do you believe that poll? All those people ready to go vote, despite the threat of death and the deadness of the presidential primary?

ADDED: I was going to read "Deadline to request absentee ballots is 5 p.m. today; these videos walk you through the process" in the Wisconsin State Journal, but I got blocked by a paywall. If I used the logic of progressives, I would accuse the Journal racism.

89 comments:

stevew said...

How many (what %) turn out for this sort of election in ordinary circumstances? I don't believe these sorts of polls - too many people answer in way that they think makes them look good or virtuous or like responsible citizens and community members.

I'm terrible at predictions but will say here and now that the turnout will be substantially less than usual.

RMc said...

I have never missed an election -- local, state, national -- since I started voting in 1983. In fact, I've been an election worker the last several years.

I'll be voting absentee this time.

AllenS said...

I'll be there.

narciso said...

Easier to steal the election though, the more motivated will vote.

Captain BillieBob said...

We always vote using a mail in ballot. Never had a problem.

Mattman26 said...

Maybe the poll reflects that many people aren’t as diligent as Ann about isolating. Probably the same folks from the jogging path.

Patrick said...

I would guess that a 55% turnout is pretty good for a primary even in a normal year. I don't believe the poll.

Sebastian said...

"But I don't want to get close to other people"

Right. Seniors should be in quarantine.

So if national data are right (reported in the NYT, so it's gotta be true), and Dems are panicking more than GOPers (not saying you're panicking, seniors should be in quarantine), will this favor the right, for example with regard to your judicial election? Or will the age effect offset the party effect, if there is one?

DanTheMan said...

>>All those people ready to go vote, despite the threat of death

I'm 100% ready to get out of the house. Yes, there is a slightly elevated risk of death.
So what?

Tom T. said...

Iran held an election in February.

I'm Not Sure said...

Every time you back your car out of the driveway, there's a threat of death. Doesn't appear to be keeping many people off the road.

MikeR said...

I signed up for absentee, for the first time.

Sebastian said...

"many people aren’t as diligent as Ann about isolating"

Presumably, except for front-line personnel and people in institutions, all cases that show up a few weeks after lockdowns are imposed involve people who aren't "diligent."

That raises the question: why should the public as a whole continue to be devastatingly "diligent" for the sake of saving seniors and the sick, when a portion of seniors and the sick themselves are not equally diligent in protecting themselves?

Of course, my approach would be different: rigorous, enforced quarantines on the major risk groups (and briefly on the known infected), not leaving it up to anyone's "diligence"--but also not crushing the economy.

Original Mike said...

"I would like to vote, and I know there was a way to get an absentee ballot by mail, but it wasn't obvious how to do it and I chose not to look it up, "

It was pretty easy. I ordered mine yesterday. Got the website off the post card I received threatening to expose me as a non-voter if I didn't vote (yes, those again). I won't be voting the way the card sender expected me to, I'm sure.

I am concerned that I had to send them a pic of my ID, given how insecure their system is likely to be. I had a pic of my passport available to send them, but that seemed foolish. Took the time to make a pic of my driver's license.

Rory said...

It's odd: I've voted in Pennsylvania and Virginia for forty years, always in person. I've never been in a line that would preclude distancing.

WisRich said...

You still Have time Ann. Today's the cutoff AND ITS EASY. My wife and I did the online request and it's pretty easy. myvote.wi.gov and click on absentee. You have to upload a copy of your driver ID but that's easy. Once you get your ballet, you can mail it or drop it off at local village office. Most have a drop box for ballets.

paminwi said...

The only time I didn’t vote was because I had to have emergency surgery.
I ALAWYS have voted in person.
Many times because I have been a poll worker.
This election I KNEW I needed to vote so I did what was best for myself and my community.

I voted by mail.

No behavior should be so ingrained that in a time of “crisis” that you can’t take the time to look up on the internet, (which our hostess is on constantly) to see how easy it was to get a ballot.

FYI: if you are already registered you find yourself on the registered voters website, upload your picture ID, confirm your address and amazingly get your mailed ballot in 2 days. Fill it out. (Meade could have been her witness) Mail it back. And YES, they include the stamp to mail it back! Easy as pie.



WisRich said...

It's not to late. myvote.wi.gov

NoMook said...

Not too late for absentee in WI:

https://myvote.wi.gov/en-US/VoteAbsentee

Got my ballot next day and mailed.

tim maguire said...

Over 70% very likely to vote, not including the 13% who already voted? (Pedant alert--"There's also a 2% that said..." No, people who, things that).

No, many, perhaps most, of those people answered according to what they would like to do or think the pollster wants to hear. Actual voting turnout will be far lower.

Lurker21 said...

Voting in person does seem to be the one time when many people actually see and maybe even talk to their neighbors and the people down the street. Some are saying that the pandemic will bring us closer together as communities, but that's hard to see when people are avoiding face to face contact.

BarrySanders20 said...

Mayor Barrett said yesterday that the City of Milwaukee is considering reducing the usual 180 city voting locations to 10-12 locations due to poll workers shortage. If true, that will crush voter turnout. People will be herded together into fewer locations, exactly the opposite of what these same politicians and the health officials are telling us all to do. Most of those willing to be herded will have to drive to find the new voting location, find parking, and maneuver through an unfamiliar building to get to the polls. Then the understaffed poll worker will have to find the right neighborhood from the many new ones they are handling just to verify the voter. It is shaping up to be an epic fiasco in the more populated urban areas where the worst of the outbreak is in Milwaukee County.

Leland said...

I don't buy the poll as most people don't vote in primary elections. On the other hand, does Wisconsin not have early voting? Early voting is a good way to have some social distance.

LuAnn Zieman said...

I'm an election chief inspector who will not be working at the polls this year. My husband has all sorts of health issues, so it's not in our best interests for me to be there. We both went online and applied for absentee ballots, which were mailed to us by our town clerk. We voted, signed as witness for each other, and mailed them back. It's our second time voting absentee; the first was during Bill Clinton's second run for President. We were actually vacationing in Hot Springs, Arkansas with a son and daughter-in-law at the time. It was interesting to hear what the citizens of "his state" had to say about him.

ex-madtown girl said...

I know you’re hesitant to go too close to people right now, but I’ll just share my voting experience from yesterday to see if it can possibly help you get to the polls if you really want to.
I went around 11:30 a.m. to my city hall, and there was only one other person in line. The first thing I did was wash my hands when I got there. They had dots spaced six feet apart in the waiting line. When I approached the desk, we were closer than six feet, but I probably could’ve stood back a bit further. I showed my ID, but didn’t hand it to the employee behind the desk. She handed me a ballot and an envelope, and I took a pen from a jar labeled “clean pens.” When I was done voting, I put the ballot in the envelope, took it back, and they sealed the envelope for me (not by mouth obviously). I put the pen in a jar labeled “used.” I used their provided hand sanitizer that dispensed via sensor, not pump, and when I left, I pushed the door open with my arm.
This may be too close to other people for your liking, but I just wanted to highlight that they were doing everything they could to follow the guidelines, and I on my end tried to do as much as possible too (excepting using a mask I suppose). Take my experience for what it’s worth!
Keep getting outside!

Linda said...

I voted absentee for the first time ever. There is no way I would be going to a polling place.

Lurker21 said...

For a long time, a major truth of politics has been that seniors vote. They turn out to vote in primaries and local elections and bond issues and initiatives when other people stay home. Now those who do turn up at the polls are putting their lives at risk. Maybe they will be diligent and committed enough now to vote absentee, or maybe some will just stay away. Where I am, you have to be out of town to vote absentee, but I guess that will change too.

Jake said...

The lack of obviousness of how to obtain an absentee ballot? Sheesh.

narciso said...

look who does get elected

Kai Akker said...

I live in a large, Democrat-run city. Every ballot initiative that should be rejected is approved. Every pathetic Democrat candidate is elected. I finally gave up on the off-year elections. Not worth it for the off-year House elections either. Only going to the poll, or doing absentee if necessary, for the Presidential election. Otherwise, the effect is to make it look like an actual democratic system. It's a monopoly with all the inefficiencies, cronyism, and crookedness that monopolies give rise to. The bear market will make it plain that the Democrats and their brain-dead voters bankrupted this city.

Inga said...

I already voted. America needs universal mail in ballots.

BarrySanders20 said...

Thanks WisRich and NoMook. I just requested the absentee ballot.

Lucien said...

If such polls are common, then I would suppose the usual ratio of actual voters to those who say they will vote will obtain. I don’t live in Wisconsin, but would not be troubled if those too fearful to show up, and who don’t care enough to get absentee ballots, don’t vote.

Yancey Ward said...

Why hasn't Evers postponed the primary?

rcocean said...

Let the show go on. Social distancing can be maintained. The scaredy cats can stay at home.

Mike Sylwester said...

Rory at 8:45 AM
I've voted in Pennsylvania and Virginia for forty years, always in person. I've never been in a line that would preclude distancing

I've been living and voting in New Jersey for 19 years. I never have had to stand in line to vote.

I just walk in, sign my name in the book, and go into the voting booth.

Is the voting booth the infection problem?

rastajenk said...

I would have voted last month in Ohio, but our curve-flattening governor, on the advice of an un-elected bureaucrat, postponed it.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

I requested an absentee ballot.

narciso said...

you don't vote the people who put whitmer and warren Wilhelm in, who is now allowing thought crime detectives in the hospitals, who let 100,000 traipse through Madison square garden will,

Michael said...

Althouse

Curious. At what point will you venture out, understanding it is unlikely we will ever get an all clear? I believe I am good for another three or four weeks. Max. Georgia, like Wisc has not had any new cases in a couple of days.

Dan from Madison said...

The excuse that its hard to absentee ballot is ridiculous. It takes literally one minute.
https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/

Temujin said...

I don't believe any polls anymore. They are the ultimate mass manipulation machine. They can be prepared with a preferred result selected, then the information backed in to come to that preferred result. Or the manner in which the questions are asked manipulated to achieve the preferred result. Or the cut of the demographics manipulated to achieve the preferred result.

I would vote if its doable in a safe manner. If not, and if it's too late for absentee, then I would skip it this time. Is it worth your life?

But...come November, this thing had better be cleared out, or there will be 1001 conspiracy theories, movies, books, tweets, and a Netflix series starring Mark Ruffalo and Meryl Streep. Good God, we don't need that on top of everything else.

Birkel said...

Why would you need to vote - in person or otherwise - for the presidential primary (leaving the other votes aside) when Joe Biden is the candidate who is pretending to run for the office? He will move off the path and let somebody else run past.

Dude1394 said...

Do you get groceries? That’s a lot more dangerous than a voting booth.

rcocean said...

"Why would you need to vote - in person or otherwise - for the presidential primary"

There are state and local elecitons.

Kai Akker said...

America needs universal mail in ballots.

See?

rhhardin said...

I never vote. I vote by changing other people's minds, and they vote. It's much more effective.

Althouse takes the opposite approach. Nobody changes their minds to agree with her.

Ann Althouse said...

"It was pretty easy. I ordered mine yesterday. Got the website off the post card I received threatening to expose me as a non-voter if I didn't vote (yes, those again). I won't be voting the way the card sender expected me to, I'm sure. I am concerned that I had to send them a pic of my ID, given how insecure their system is likely to be. I had a pic of my passport available to send them, but that seemed foolish. Took the time to make a pic of my driver's license."

You sent some website that wasn't the government a photo of your driver's license? Some asshole group that was scaring you about hurting your reputation??? I would never do that!

Ann Althouse said...

"This may be too close to other people for your liking, but I just wanted to highlight that they were doing everything they could to follow the guidelines..."

Thanks. I appreciate that they are doing some things, but it isn't enough for me. I am excluded from voting... it's by my own set of preferences, true. But I've always voted, and this time I can't.

brylun said...

"Vote harvesting" is an issue that concerns me.

Theoretically, you could go to an all-electronic, or all absentee, system.

But just like the live voting locations, electronic or absentee voting is subject to unfair and undue influencing.

In live voting locations, campaigning is typically prohibited within a certain distance of the polling places by state law. And the secret ballot is protected.

But with electronic or absentee voting, political party operatives can be sent to "collect" or pay for, or otherwise influence, votes. This seems to me to be unfair. How do you enforce campaign distance regulations with electronic or absentee voting? And how do you preserve the secret ballot, say in nursing homes?

It is also unfair to allow people who aren't citizens to vote. The only way to assure that only citizens vote is to have some kind of voter ID. The argument voter ID is that poor folks don't have IDs. But for those folks, how do they go about everyday life? And can't they have some kind of pre-vote hearing to establish that they indeed are citizens?

Several states, for example, New York, have delayed their primary elections. Can't Wisconsin do the same?



Whiskeybum said...

Yancey Ward said...
Why hasn't Evers postponed the primary?

Only one reason that I can think of... he has some kind of inside information that maintaining the April 7th date gives the Democrat Party some kind of electoral advantage; this despite his administration wanting to restrict all other types of social interactions during the month of April.

This is why I've already voted absentee.

Charlie Currie said...

I'd prefer voting at home and then dropping the ballot off at the polling place after showing my ID.

I understand that some people are incapacitated or out of town and can't get to the polls on election day, so mail in is probably the only solution. But, all mail in is just a huge opportunity for fraud, i.e. vote harvesting. That's why the dems love it.

Ann Althouse said...

"Curious. At what point will you venture out, understanding it is unlikely we will ever get an all clear? I believe I am good for another three or four weeks. Max. Georgia, like Wisc has not had any new cases in a couple of days. "

I "venture out" every day, usually twice a day. I am just making choices about what I will do. It happens to be easy for me to avoid undistanced contact with other people.

What would it take to get me back in a store or restaurant and back to my Pilates class and dentist appointment, etc.? It would at least take seeing that we are on the other side of a flattened curve.

I do think of myself as someone who doesn't catch respiratory viruses. I've only had the flu once and I only get a cold about once every 10 years. I think I have great natural defenses, and I'm also "naturally" inclined to keep my distance. I'm not looking for people to hug and kiss and I don't touch doorknobs. I've always felt pretty safe, and I'm actually not especially nervous now. I have noticed how good I feel, considering the situation. I mostly feel bad for other people. But I'm doing my part, and for me, it's pretty easy. Which also means it's easy for me not to stop. But I figure I'll wind down my carefulness when the government says that's what we should be doing.

Kai Akker said...

Do you get groceries? That’s a lot more dangerous than a voting booth.[Unknown]

Really? You trust the once-every-other-year voting personnel -- and the voters themselves [!?!] -- to keep hygiene standards to the level of a decent supermarket?

Original Mike said...

"You sent some website that wasn't the government a photo of your driver's license? Some asshole group that was scaring you about hurting your reputation??? I would never do that!"

It's a government website.

Kevin said...

Won't the African Americans, who can't figure out how to get a government-issued ID, have an especially hard time obtaining and filling out an absentee ballot?

I suppose someone at the DNC is already fighting injustice by filling one out for them.

Ann Althouse said...

"Althouse takes the opposite approach. Nobody changes their minds to agree with her."

Maybe that's how I do it, by making you feel I'm not doing it. Isn't that how women in those romcoms you watch are always getting what they want? I don't know. I don't watch that stuff, but somebody once linked to a scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

But it's also possible that I don't have things I want to make people think. Even if I did, I'm not interested in the kind of people who give and receive persuasion. I've always been embarrassed for people who get caught up in that. One more reason I'm good at distancing!

brylun said...

Ann, you might be like Trump in more ways than you think!

Original Mike said...

Blogger Inga said..."I already voted. America needs universal mail in ballots."

Having gone through the process of applying for a ballot, it's obvious that committing fraud with this system is trivial.

Francisco D said...

But it's also possible that I don't have things I want to make people think. Even if I did, I'm not interested in the kind of people who give and receive persuasion. I've always been embarrassed for people who get caught up in that.

Kudos to you, Althouse. As a teacher, I suspect that you resisted the trap of telling students what to think and focused on encouraging them how to think.

I went to a very liberal urban prep school with very liberal teachers. Althouse reminds me of those teachers. They were liberal (as in open minded) not the left wing authoritarians that many liberals today have become.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

There are a lot of issues with voting by mail.
A few examples: apartment blocks where mail is often left out, and can be easily harvested by those with nefarious intent. Anyone can steal ballots.
If you voted by mail once, what is to stop voting by mail numerous times?
How to you connect the mail-in vote with the person? What about a system that ensure one-vote one person. the collective left are not interested in such a method. They would call it racist.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The left's ultimate goal is full Putin. Demolish and dismantle the Electoral College, and replace with a popular vote system, like they have in Russia. Then, take over the system by allowing open fraud. but call anyone who opposes such fraud - "a racist or a white supremacist."

If we can bar code everything - why can't we bar-code ballots? There should be a record of one-person/ one-vote. We should know that our vote was counted, and not changed by a hack. We should know that packs of political activists with larceny in their hearts didn't harvest ballots.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“Do you get groceries? That’s a lot more dangerous than a voting booth”

Oh yeah. Long before KungFlu, I’d chortle at the sight of compulsive germophobes blithely handling those little well-traveled sheets o’ plague that we call dollar bills. Necessity seems to effortlessly throw up blind spots in even our most ingrained fears. Arachnophobic? Your house is full of them. Run!

purplepenquin said...

Requesting an absentee ballot is even easier than making a hyperlink in the comments section of this blog- claiming it is too hard, while still logging onto the 'net every day, is a lame&lazy excuse.

Please don't not vote.

Ann Althouse said...

"It's a government website."

Oh. Okay. I still don't want to do it!

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Also - same day voter registration = open fraud.

If you want to register to vote, YOU CAN! No one is stopping you. Excluding special elections- we vote every November. It's totally possible to register to vote ahead of time. Same say voter registration on election day - IS open vote fraud.

Caligula said...

This election is FUBAR.

Wisconsin is stuck with legal precedent that permits different rules for voting in different precincts (thus making early voting easier in some precincts than others- it's almost as though some voters are more equal than others); no one yet knows which polling places will be open and which will be closed; and if many are closedthe3n the lines at the ones that are open, and the potential viral exposure in those lines, will he horrendous. Especially if the weather is inclement and lines spill outdoors in an attempt to maintain that social distancing.

I'd assume our governor was against delaying the election because he saw political advantage in not doing so, but, we're now stuck with what seems sure to be a very badly flawed election.

And, yes, I voted absentee a week ago. But it's hardly reasonable for those who haven't to have a choice between exposure to the virus (for those who are more vulnerable but also for those living with older relatives) and exercising that most basic of constitutional rights.

Original Mike said...

"Oh. Okay. I still don't want to do it!"

Yeah, I didn't either. But I feel a need to vote in the Supreme Court election.

Leslie Graves said...

Like you, I have only ever voted in person and I won't do that next Tuesday. I did order an absentee ballot through the government website. It was a pain. One thing I had to do was get out my cell phone to take a photo of my driver's license (or other government-issued photo ID). I then had to fiddle around with the photo on my cell phone to get it to where I could upload it to the government's website. I kept going at this point partly out of curiosity about just how much of a pain the process would be. I believe voter turnout next Tuesday will be quite, quite low.

I partly think that because in 1918 (Woodrow Wilson's 2nd midterm), voter turnout was only 39.9%. Four years earlier during his first midterm, it was a bit over 50%.

My absentee ballot came in the mail today and now I have to go do something with it.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks, Francisco D.

I do feel like that. It's what I loved about teaching. I always felt bad about students who wanted to be told what to think instead of taking the opportunity to learn how to think (and to put it in words). Sometimes on exams I could see efforts to parrot what I'd said, and I always felt embarrassed for them and sad that they thought about me like that, that I'd be impressed that they were putting the work into trying to sound like me (and embarrassed for myself that they thought that's how I sounded).

Johnathan Birks said...

Just wait for the scolds to tell you what a terrible American you are for not voting. "It's not a right, it's a duty!"

Ann Althouse said...

"Requesting an absentee ballot is even easier than making a hyperlink in the comments section of this blog- claiming it is too hard, while still logging onto the 'net every day, is a lame&lazy excuse."

That's a straw penguin argument.

I didn't claim it's too hard. I stated that I was unwilling to vote like that and unwilling to photograph my driver's license and put it on line. I vote as a ritual and out of duty, and it's like telling a person who goes to church that while church is closed they should watch church on television.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

My state senator took a job in Washington and there will be a special election this month to replace him. Supposedly the polling places will be closed and it will be vote by mail only. All voters, not just vote-by-mail voters, are supposed to get ballots in the mail, but we haven't seen any yet. Go Melissa Melendez!

Gusty Winds said...

I'm going to go vote at Sussex City Hall as usual.

purplepenquin said...

"I didn't claim it's too hard."

When you said "it wasn't obvious how to do it" that was taken to mean it was too complicated/difficult for you to figure out and it was too much of a hassle for you to look up. Why start off with that excuse if voting absentee was never gonna be an option for you anyways?

But thanks for clearing that up, tho the reason you're giving now (you're simply unwilling to vote if you can't do so in person) doesn't seem to jive with other things you've said. Why do you consider it any less of a duty now than it was before?

it's like telling a person who goes to church that while church is closed they should watch church on television.

Reckon that depends on your reasons for attending church, eh? If attending worship services is something you just do out of a sense of obligation then of course watching it on TV wouldn't appeal to ya at all. Which is fine - just be honest about it, with yourself&others.

Am curious tho - what would you say to someone who said they weren't watching church on TV 'cause it wasn't obvious what channel it was on and they didn't wanna look it up?



Given how you resent folks trying to persuade you into doing something, please feel free to ignore this part - but for everyone else, I truly do urge you: Please don't not vote. Despite what others are trying to persuade you of, it actually is kinda important for us to do so.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

now all the pols are trying to lecture us on wearing a mask.

right after they lectured us on not wearing a mask.

purplepenquin said...

Yancey Ward said...
Why hasn't Evers postponed the primary?


He tweeted this out yesterday:

We have three branches of government to ensure a system of checks and balances, and questions about our elections typically rely on all three playing a role. If I could have changed the election on my own I would have but I can’t without violating state law.

I’ve asked the legislature to do its part to ensure a fair, safe election and I hope we can get some clarity as soon as possible. The bottom line is that we have to keep folks safe and we have to make sure everyone who wants to vote has the opportunity to make their voice heard.


TL/DR - it ain't just his choice to make


Whiskeybum said...
Only one reason that I can think of... he has some kind of inside information that maintaining the April 7th date gives the Democrat Party some kind of electoral advantage


Inside information that he is keeping from his own party, eh?

The Wisconsin Democratic Party has called for postponing Tuesday’s presidential primary and other elections in the state amid the coronavirus outbreak, splitting with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

And how about the Republicans? Do they also have some sort of secret-information that shows it would be to their advantage to have the election as scheduled?

"Leaders in the Republican-controlled legislature say that moving the voting date so late in the process would sow confusion"

Jupiter said...

"I have always been an in-person voter. But I don't want to get close to other people."

Maybe you could consider what it is about in-person voting that you find so attractive. It doesn't sound like it is the participation in a civic ritual, although I suppose one could enjoy civic ritual without proximity. Maybe you just enjoy the visible indicia of the State's desire to ascertain your preferences?

Here in Oregon it's all by mail now. I do kind of miss the civic ritual. The visible indicia, not so much.

rhhardin said...

"Althouse takes the opposite approach. Nobody changes their minds to agree with her."

Maybe that's how I do it, by making you feel I'm not doing it. Isn't that how women in those romcoms you watch are always getting what they want? I don't know. I don't watch that stuff, but somebody once linked to a scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

But it's also possible that I don't have things I want to make people think. Even if I did, I'm not interested in the kind of people who give and receive persuasion. I've always been embarrassed for people who get caught up in that. One more reason I'm good at distancing!


That's compatible with a mind that's pretty much structure-free, taking surface details as everything. A woman's mind.

Men can explain structure but it never takes. Women like his eyes or something.

rhhardin said...

Maybe you could consider what it is about in-person voting that you find so attractive.

Ritual. It stands for her caring, but somebody has to see it.

Openidname said...

I hate to say this, but I have less respect for the professor now that I know she can't be bothered to vote absentee.

MadisonMan said...

My polling place has been moved, it's a long walk now to get there. Maybe I'll go more than the two miles the NYTimes thinks is needed to measure.

walter said...

It's ok. Dems had productive early voting in Madison and Milwaukee...

walter said...

Plus, not voting gets the never more popular "My hands are clean" bumper sticker.

brylun said...

'Ill-advised' election to go on, judge says, but some absentee ballot rules rolled back

It's not behind a paywall for me, and the absentee deadline is now Friday at 5pm.

brylun said...

And this doesn't seem to appear on the Wisconsin State Journal, and may have occurred at the same place you jog: University of Wisconsin-Madison doctor, husband found dead in suspected homicide

MadisonMan said...

No. That was the Arb, not Picnic Point, where Althouse goes. It does give one pause. I wish more information could come forward about this murder.

Nichevo said...


Michael said...
Althouse

Curious. At what point will you venture out, understanding it is unlikely we will ever get an all clear? I believe I am good for another three or four weeks. Max. Georgia, like Wisc has not had any new cases in a couple of days.

4/2/20, 9:13 AM


Ann? She's good forever. She saw the Robert Redford episode of The Twilight Zone, she saw the last third of Apocalypse Now, she's learned the lessons:


Never open the door!

And never, never, NEVER get off the boat!

Ann Althouse said...

@ brylun That was in the Arb, near the entrance close to St Mary’s Hospital. A lot of people run there, but that’s by Lake Wingra, a beautiful lake, but my photos show the sunrise over Lake Mendota.

The police say the couple wasn’t randomly attacked but targeted. I don’t know how they know that but it does reassure the public.

It’s very sad what happened to the doctor and her husband.