An easy trail to early voting in Alaska

 Make a plan, the TV ads and pundits say. A plan for voting? In the past we went to a local site on Election Day, cast our ballots and that was that. This year so different. As I thought about a plan I considered a mail-in ballot, a dropbox, voting early in person and waiting for Nov. 3 to go to my regular voting place.

I signed up for and received an absentee ballot which would have been good for the first two options. I even jumped through all the hoops to prepare my ballot including chasing down a friend to witness it on the sane day the courts ruled we didn't have to do that.

So here I sat wondering which of the choices would be best. With all the news and charges about voting obstructions flying around, we are faced with choosing where our ballots are safest and free from manipulation. Granted Alaska doesn't seem to have the problems many states are experiencing, but as always caution is a virtue. What I finally came up with was that the choice should be the one where the fewest number of people have access to the ballot. It might be exposed and vulnerable in a drop box. After all, drop boxes have been stolen in some places and in California Republicans were putting up false drop boxes. In the long run, I finally decided I would mail my ballot, but since it was on the way, I would check out the early voting facility, where the ballot would be exposed to the fewest people before it lands on the counting table, making it the best of the choices according to my personal criteria. My fall back solution would be waiting in line Nov. 3.

So, I drove into town yesterday, the prepared mail-in ballot in the copilot's seat, and headed first to the borough office building where the early voting station had been established. My first surprise was the number of empty parking places in the lot. I hopped out of the car and headed in. Then I spotted a guy coming out wearing his mask. Oops. Damn! Back to the truck to retrieve my forgotten one, then repeating the steps to the door.

The first things I noticed were three different places to sanitize my hands. I followed the trail of 6-foot social-distancing notices laid like stepping stones on the floor from the door into the main room. This was seemed about the size of a high school gymnasium. There must have been a couple of dozen polling enclosures at least. I swear only three of us were there to vote. I followed the directions to the tables where a masked poll worker had me sign in after checking my registration card, then gave me the correct ballot for my district, offered me a pen and off I went. Since I had already done my research and filled out a ballot it only took me a couple of minutes to mark this one. Then I went over to where my ballot was slipped into the collection machine, the pen put into a collection cup to be disinfected, I assumed, and headed out the door. I don't think I was in there even 5 minutes.

As I walked across the parking lot toward my truck I encountered a woman heading in the opposite direction. She looked at me and said "Oh, damn." I laughed and told her I had done the same thing as she turned to return to her vehicle to pick up her mask.

Oh crap, Then there's this Covid scare

More political comment

All media is not #fakenews, really

Last week I saw this posted as a meme on faebook by someone on my friends list: "We must recognize “the news” is no longer “news”, but propaganda to change our way of thinking. A few persons a few of whom I know responded emphatically agreeing. I rwrote a quick comment that read " I see Trump has won."

But since then I've been tempted to go back and give them a good talking to. I worked in the media off and on for 50 years in at least seven states with several newspapers ranging from The Wall Street Journal.to the Nome Nugget and still serve as managing editor of a quarterly business publication. I take great offense at the idea that the thousands of honest, hard-working journalists in this country are simply tossed aside with a casual comment that merely shows the #fakepresident has done what he intended, the fascist goal of bringing the public to mistrust the media, the one process that works to bring truth as a check against this very sort of intrusion into the body politic. I have worked with hundreds of journalists whose only thought was to print truth and expose dishonesty and the indiscretions of a complex society all with integrity.

To be sure there are are propaganda writers out there calling themselves news reporters and there is an awful lot of opinionated garble particularly in broadcast media and on line. I have always thought generally people are able to tell the difference between that and responsible journalism. The fact that the president of the United States calls it fakenews is abhorrent. Responsible journalism is all we have and he has created a schism between us and the government. Be discerning about who you listen to and read and learn to tell the difference. Just because we have a president who lies constantly (exposed carefully by responsible media) and in his paranoiac grandiosity thinks anyone who disagrees with him or holds him to the truth is somehow dishonest and simply out to get him. Truthfully he has been given a much wider berth than I would ever have given. He even called one of our most trusted reporters who wrote a book and backs up what he wrote with recordings, a liar when the truth is there in his own voice. Do you trust Donald Trump of Robert Woodward? Do you trust a respected journalist with proof to back up what he writes or a dishonest fascist president who knows no truth beyond what he manufactures in his own head? Here's a quote the #fakepresident made during the 2016 campaign. I believe he was talking about Hillary Clinton during the debates: “Every time I said something, she would say something back. It was rigged. She kept on bringing up things I said or did. She is a very nasty person.”

Here's what I mean about being discerning. I love Rachel Maddow. BUT, I know she's opinionated even if it's my side of opinions. I have seen her make mistakes and I can hear how she reports the news in a way to forward or confirm her view and that of those who listen to her. Sometimes if it's information somehow important to me I look for another source. It's unfortunate we live in this sort of situation. I have never watched a Fox news show though I have seen snippets. All I can say is at least Maddow doesn't tell out and out  lies, but then I see those snippets on shows that point out the lies. The point is understand who you are listening to and take the information accordingly. To find daily honest reporting turn to your local media, Those are the people doing their best to bring you honest reporting and not competing for national television ratings(though many local  outlets are now owned by large national news organizations and thus become suspect). 

An example I would pose to Alaskans is The Anchorage Daily News' recent reporting on sexual violence in Alaska. National awards on a local story held to the highest standards of journalism. Blanket condemnations of distrust for the media insults people like those ADN reporters, and thousands of lesser known journalists across the country who every day work very hard to bring you truthful balanced reports. I believe there is much to criticize in media. But there is a lot to praise too and when you think about it, they are all we have after all and when a government works to build distrust between you and us, distrust the government. If you look back through history in most conflicts between government and media, the media has won. So please, think of those honest journalists working hard before you decide to cast a wide net of distrust across a whole profession.

ADN Sexual violence in Alaska