can "J" vote today?

so, today is election day for all you voting advocates out there. i care more about today's election than most, considering it was only local governement votes for me where i think my vote actually matters more than in, say, federal elections where most people are only choosing between the "lesser of two evils". or so they tell me.

anyway, D and i get there a few minutes before seven b/c we are used to the People's Republic of Cambridge where there would already be a long line and i have to catch the train at 737am, so we want to get in and out.

first of all, there is basically no one else there to vote. oh, one guy. yes, this is somerville. yes, i'm ashamed. but there are a million people "checking" voters. well, only two to sign us in but a whole host of other folks sitting behind these two doing i have no idea what.

so, i go up to the desk, give my address and then my name. the woman finds it and then pauses. then screams back to the "official" lady in charge: "it's a J. can J's vote today?" the man in front of me was just allowed thru. presumably he isn't a J though. the "official" lady yells back that "anyone" can vote today. apparently even us "J"s. why don't they just try to malign me in front of the whole office? why don't they just try to shame me into not voting? why don't they just try to rig the election!

but i'm not ashamed of being a "j". that's right. i'm not a democrat. i'm registered green. well, apparently it's "j"-green. or however they spell it in somerville.

the whole operation was pretty shady. their clocks were slow (d played "spot the republican challenger" while we waited) and the guy at the ballot box was there, apparently, to yell at you for "taking" a privacy sleeve for your ballot even tho you had no choice.

next time around we might start a write in campaign for me for mayor. can you imagine a "j" as mayor? wouldn't that throw the town into a tailspin?