Nullified

My friend marked her ballot at her polling place in Landen and asked the poll worker if she should insert the pages into the scanning machine one at a time or together.

"It doesn't matter," she was told.

It doesn't matter? How can the machine read the back of page one when it is sandwiched against page two? Unless those machines have CAT scan units in them, I have to think some of Pam's votes weren't counted.

Looking at the results of Tuesday's elections, I'm more convinced than ever that voters work hard to appreciate the nuances of the issues and weigh the candidates carefully. Pam is that sort of person. To think that a clueless poll worker's casual advice can nullify a thoughtful voter's choices makes me ill. Who knows how many voters that poll worker cancelled out?