Primary Election and OHPAA Cultural Arts Festival

I served as an Election Judge in Salt Lake County today. I worked the polling location at Scott Matheson Jr. High School. I served as the Ballot Judge. Today was a closed primary election. The only party involved was the Republican party. We didn't have any non-partisan items on the ballots in our polling location today. Out of all the eligible voters in the districts, my co-workers figured that we had about a 10% voter turnout. The eligible voters are those who already affiliated themselves with the Republican Party, or those who were unaffiliated, but could chose to affiliate today before voting.

I'm not sure if 10% is really that good. It seems to me that many are neglecting their privlidges of being able to vote. What does that mean?

I got to work with some nice people. Our Poll Manager was Sonya Kingley. Jack Weiss served as the Provisional Judge. Rick Brewster was the Touch Screen Technician. Sedley Parkinson served as the Poll Book Judge and Norm Fitzgerald served as the Receiving Judge. Because I was the Ballot Judge I sat at the table with Norm Fitgerald and Sedley Parkinson. I had quite the experience. Norm and Sedley are so knowledgable. I learned all kinds of stuff today. My mom was so kind to bring Pizza to us from Dominos. I just love her.

Norm used to run the Copper Days Celebration in Magna. I'm on a committee putting together the OHPAA Cultural Arts Festival which is an attempt to accomplish the same vision that Copper Days had. After all my research lately, I already felt kind of overwhelmed by all the red tape I discovered exhists out there, speaking today with Norman didn't help alleviate any of my anxieties. I understand there needs to be responsiblity and justice, but I sometimes wonder if things have gone too far. I've heard that I live in a society overrun with law suits. Every agency, organization, and corporation has to be on constant guard, therefore flexiblity and freedom are being surpressed. I don't know how any festival or community event ever happens. There are so many permits, and their associated fees required to allow such an event to even be considered, it's all so overwhelming and a bit discouraging for me. We're just a few simple citizens with only our hands, our time, and minimul financial resources to offer. We want to do something nice for our community, but what we have to offer may not be enough. I hope things work out.

I got get out of this frame of mind. I need to remember to be positive and optimistic. There is lots of good in the world today. We have a lot to be thankful for.