voting

I excerised my democratic right and responsibility today and cast my vote in the federal election.

I've been incredibly excited about voting ever since I enrolled when I was 17 (I was very eager!). Initially I was disppointed that I wouldn't be in my electorate on election day to vote, but there were even people handing out 'how-to-vote' cards outside the polling station to make it feel like election day. Very considerate of them.

It's a bit of a foreign feeling though. Knowing that your vote is your vote alone. It doesn't matter what your parents think or what your friends believe or what you feel you 'should' do. It's your vote and eventually the responsibility falls to you to make a decision. Strange feeling, but cool.

I've got friends who voted for their electorate in NSW or Victoria in the last few days, which means that they had over 65 senate candidates. Most of them just put one number above the line and left it at that. Not me. There might be a few less candidates in Tasmania than elsewhere, but it still took me quite a while to number every single box below the line. There was no way that I was leaving the decision about my preferences to someone else!

So yes, that's all really. Crappy entry, but I just wanted to write about my wonderful voting experience. (as you can tell, I'm kinda into the whole voting thing...)