-- Tuesday, March 7, 2000 --

11:19 p.m. It looked as if the entire town of Venice had decided to vote at the last minute tonight. There were three different polling places within three or four blocks of one another, and there was a line outside every one of them. Our particular polling operation was just a teensy bit incompetent, but we persisted and we finally were able to vote.

They give you a sticker --

For some reason, we weren't on the list and we had to go to each place and check in. The time was ticking away and by the time we got our little pink screw-up envelopes, the correct place had closed and barred its big dark-blue metal doors. But we pounded for awhile and a very elderly gentleman finally hobbled over and shouted to us through the crack in the doorframe.

And we shouted back that it wasn't yet 8:00 ... and he checked ... and the doors were swung open and the wooden cubicles were unfolded and we (and the line of people behind us) voted for all the right candidates and all the true and the just causes.

There's nothing like a superhero outfit to make a boy feel good.

Meanwhile, remember when it was frowned on for women to wear pants or slacks out in public? Fifty years ago, the lineup of voters would have shown three women in flowered dresses, hats, and high-heeled shoes. Sneakers? I don't think so. Ike was in the White House and everyone looked old. Fifty years in the future? Why, silver jumpsuits, of course. Unisex.

But, we still have Republicans and Democrats. And even though it's probably quite technically possible to vote right from a handy website, we still had to put on jackets and walk and walk and eventually punch holes in a rigid card (by hand) with a little metal awl. I assume that the cards go into some kind of card-reader Enigma machine, so that nine months from now, we'll be watching on TV at another frigid January day in Washington and another wife will be trying not to look stupid in a hat.

I'll be trying, meanwhile, not to mention that I am a Democrat. Or that I do it only for the sticker.