My 2006 General Election Voting Story

At approximately 12:50 AM on Friday the 13th (let it not be a bad omen), I, Scott Urbanowski, patriotic American and proud Democrat, filled out my absentee ballot for my first General election, seven hours after picking it up in the mail. (Okay, I could've voted last year, but there were literally no contested races in Kentwood.)

It took six minutes and twenty seconds for me to fill out 33 bubbles, 28 for candidates and 5 on ballot proposals.

As I voted for Jenny, I thought of a few of the people from all over the state who will join me in supporting our Governor: My parents; Lieutenant Governor John Cherry; Amos Williams; Dan Mulhern; John and many others from the ICDP; Andy and all the College Dems; Dan, Lonnie, and Mike (and a few others) from SGA; Haley and Sue from the Kent County Party; David LaGrand; Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow; John Conyers... and even a few Republicans. The list goes on and on.

And then Vietnam vet, former Detroit cop, and respected attorney Amos Williams for Attorney General. And Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh for Secretary of State.

Then I voted for Debbie. Sure, I don't agree with everything she has done, but she did oppose Roberts's and Alito's confirmations to the Supreme Court, as well as the Iraq War. Not to mention the fact that thanks to her, Canadian garbage will not be coming to Michigan for much longer. We are fortunate that Debbie and Carl are our US Senators. May we have many more years with them!

Then to US House. Vern Ehlers is pretty popular, but he voted for CAFTA and cut student financial aid. While I expect Ehlers to win by another landslide, I voted for Jim Rinck. On paper, Rinck is probably the most qualified Democrat to run against Ehlers in the 13 years Ehlers has been there, having been on the Grand Rapids school board.

And then LaGrand for State Senate. If you were to ask me six months ago if LaGrand could beat Bill Hardiman, I would've said, 'nope, Hardiman's a shoe-in.' Then I saw the crowd of supporters for LaGrand in the Kentwood Fourth of July Parade. Then he won MichiganLiberal's very first Michigan First! endorsement. Then I met David personally. Yes, LaGrand can win, and I am proud to support him!

Then on to state boards. Law professor and Army major Kathy White; Gore 's Michigan campaign manager Debbie Dingell; former American Bar President Reginald Turner; and former Michigan Bar President Julia Darlow are just a few of the fine folks who got my vote for state and university boards.

I suppoorted Brian McKay for Kent County Drain Commissioner. Having worked for the City of Grand Rapids in a similar job, he is more qualified than Republican nominee Bill Byl (though I expect Byl to win easily; Other than GR, Kent County is about as Democratic as Ted Kennedy is Republican).

Supreme Court Justice Michael Cavanagh received my support for another eight-year term. I also voted for Jane Beckering, listed in 'The Best Lawyers in America.'

As for the ballot proposals: I joined the Grand Rapids Press; both DeVos and Granholm; SGA; and many others in saying HELL NO to Proposal 2. I also opposed Proposals 1 (sounds good, but unnecessary and would place too many funding restrictions in the state Constitution), 3 (I'm unconvinced that we must kill mourning doves in order to move forward in this state), and 5 (would force the state to spoend more money that it doesn't have; more on Prop 5 in a few days). I did support Proposal 4, which would restrict government's ability to seize property by eminent domain. For more on the ballot proposals, check out http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Statewide_Bal_Prop_Status_145801_7.pdf .

Having applied 63 cents postage (a regular stamp plus a postcard stamp) and sealed and signed my return envelope, I slowly placed my envelope, ballot inside, in the mailbox in the Towers lobby.

Want more info regarding the election? Ask me, or check out www.michigan.gov/vote . Also, click here to print up an absentee request form and send it to your city clerk. (Never voted before? You must request an absentee ballot IN PERSON at your clerk's office, unless you registered to vote in person at your clerk's office.)

PLEASE do yourself a favor and VOTE! The current governor of Washington was elected by 133 votes. Bush won Florida by 537 votes in 2000. In the '80s, a congressman won re-election by four - FOUR - votes.

If you don't vote, you have no one to blame but yourself. So go vote. It's easy and quick... and the job you save may be your own.