Birthday celebration: the conclusion.

Our friends Mark & Amanda were having a "fill out your ballot" party. In Oregon, we vote by mail so everyone gets their ballot a few weeks before the election. Then you fill it out at your leisure and either mail it or drop it in an official ballot drop box. Matt had voted already, but I was happy for the opportunity to discuss some measures and candidates that I was unsure about. As we Oregonians have settled in to voting by mail, it is common for people to have parties such as Mark & Amanda did. In fact, the Oregonian featured one such party on the front page of the paper today.

While some people imply that this is a way of "selling votes," that the people attending the party will vote the way the host wants them to, I disagree. This is no different than the sessions we used to have in college where we would get together and discuss the issues we would be voting on. The only difference is at these parties we actually can vote at that moment if we chose to.

Another nice thing about voting by mail: a glass of wine while you make your decisions.After finishing voting and socializing and eating soup Matt and I continued on to Pix for a bit of birthday scrumptiousness. I had the Ichabod Crane as well as a dark chocolate salted caramel. Matt had a fruity dessert. Even though it was Sunday night, the place was packed and it turned out the guy at the table next to our was celebrating his birthday too!
One last stop. Here I am casting my ballot. Here's to hoping.