IS IT OVER ??

Gosh I really hope so. I am talking about the elections. This year has been a trip but when you look at history, not really all that unusual.

Candidates yell, candidates scream, they lie, they deny they are lying, those who aren't in office say they can do a better job than those all ready there. Those in office say they are "doing just fine thank you." The phone rings incessantly with robo calls and the mail box is full each day with "vote for me" mail outs. You know, not much different than it always is in an election year.

We did have a slight wrinkle in the local elections of little town near me. We just could not get it right trying to elect a sheriff. First we had the primary elections in which there was no clear winner for a Democratic candidate for sheriff, so a run off was scheduled for the two leading vote getters.

Then the strangest thing happened in the run off election. Both candidates got the same exact number of votes. A perfect tie. Recounts couldn't break the tie. A first in state history. Some suggested a coin toss, others wanted the courts to decide.

The Republican candidate suggested that since there was a tie, that meant there was no candidate from the Democratic party therefore, the Republican claimed victory by being unopposed. Not quite.

Finally another election was scheduled under orders from the governor. Well off to the polls we went once again for another run off and this time a Democrat candidate was actually chosen.

So was that the end? Nope, a judge declared the third election illegal which delighted the Republican candidate--- but it was ruled that the Democrat who had gotten the most votes in the third election could stay on the ballot. Huh??

Well, in the recent general election, the Dem got 52% of the vote, the Republican got 28% and a third party got 20%. Sounds like a clear win but actually, no one knows for sure who is sheriff as the courts are still involved. A hearing has not been scheduled yet to make the final decision.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about the mess. She said her daughter got so disgusted with the whole process that she went out and had her own signs made and put them up around town. When I heard what the signs said, I had to go see for my self. I was delighted that someone finally put the humor and ridiculousness of the situation out there for all to see.



If you never saw the Andy Griffith TV show, you don't realize that Barney was Andy's bumbling, inept, deputy who was only allowed to carry one bullet and that was kept in his pocket for safety reasons. His gun was always empty and his favorite expression was to "nip it in the bud," referring to getting a handle on petty crimes early. Had I known of the grass roots movement, I might have written in ole one-bullet-Barney on the ballot myself.

That sign pretty much summed up the feelings of the town. I just loved it and was glad we could finally laugh at the botched up situation. As it stands now, no one really knows who will be our sheriff in January. If I were a criminal, I would be loving it with no clear head of the law enforcement machine. We really do need someone to "nip it in the bud."

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If you would like to read a very clever and refreshing post concerning the recent national Republican and Tea Party take over, please check out Margaret and Helen's tongue in cheek post. If you are a Republican, you might want to skip this.

Barry at Frost Bottom Days directed me to the link and at first I thought he had sent me to the wrong place. However, read on-- for it is laugh out loud in spots and quite brilliant.

And that is all you will hear from me about the election. We have done what we could and now it is time to live with it, till the next election. I may not have voted for most of them but they are now my elected congressmen and women. They will hear from me when I feel it necessary, just as if I had voted for them.

Till next time.