Band Name of the Day

11/02/04’s illustrious band:

Hi Candy

Brought to you by Senor Editor.

Numerous trick-or-treaters visited Senor Editor’s house on Halloween. Among them was an excited boy of about 4 who, when he saw Senor coming to the door with a bowl of treats, shouted, “Hi, candy!”

That’s what I said when I walked into my polling place this morning. At the end of the maze of check-in stations, demonstration tables, lines, and flimsy plastic polling booths sat a huge bowl of Tootsie Rolls. Due to a “less is more” approach to traffic planning, most of the crowd piled up right inside the only entrance to the polls, carefully skirting the bowl on the floor. I spent five minutes in the wrong line before realizing I needed to start elsewhere, and when I finally reached the correct line with the correct form in hand, I had to redirect several other people who had made the same mistake.

Except for a fussy toddler and a moody first-grader, though, everybody was very cheerful about the tangle, from the wizened volunteers (none under 65 in my precinct) to the pair of young women I would have carded for a PG-13 movie. We all wanted the prize at the end of the line -- the pleasure of feeding a completed ballot into the tally machine -- and would have waited a lot longer than half an hour for it. The candy was just a bonus.

My coworkers, all either sporting red “I voted” stickers or ready with “I’m voting on the way home,” report similar experiences of polls packed with cheerful voters. Despite pledges to the contrary, we’ve all tuned in election coverage on the radio and online, and we’ll keep our eyes and ears on it until bedtime.

Anyway. Here’s hoping there’s something good for all of us at the end of this long and twisted campaign trail.

Today around the world: November 2 is, of course, Election Day, when Americans celebrate a temporary end to political advertising. It’s also the day for Australia’s most famous horse race, the Melbourne Cup, and it’s All Souls Day or Day of the Dead for Christians.

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