My younger daughter just sent me a text with a picture of
her official ballot. This is her first presidential election and while I am
pretty sure her vote for the top job will cancel out mine, I am just happy she
got out and voted.
I voted in early knowing that I would be in Japan on Election
Day. It is Wednesday morning here and I am hoping we have a result before I go
to bed tonight. Twelve years ago, our first year living in Japan, we had the
Bush – Gore debacle, I remember starting a dinner with customers who told me
Gore won and it had been announced on TV. I got home and found that nobody had
won and I spent the next few weeks trying to explain our convoluted electoral
process to my Japanese friends who seemed to take comfort in the fact that our
political process seemed as screwed up as Japan’s.
Explaining the nuances of the “hanging chads” and the
election equivalent of a food fight in Florida was tough enough but many were
surprised to find out that the candidate with the most votes doesn’t necessarily
win in our “democratic” process. While nobody came out and compared our 2000
process to a third world election, I had the feeling many were simply too kind
to state the obvious.
I am hoping this election does not put American politics
in the global comedic spotlight again but as I left the hotel this morning, CNN
was reporting that each candidate’s lawyers were preparing to litigate results
if necessary. Not a good sign.
Of course, my favorite Japanese election stories relate
to pronunciation rather than questions about our process. Given that “L” as we
know it does not exist in Japanese and is normally substituted with the “R”
sound; election is normally pronounced “erection” by Japanese English speakers. It is hard to keep a straight face when
asked; “don’t you have an erection in the US today? Or as in 2000, “wow, the US
erection really lasts a long time”. My Japanese teacher, being a very proper
lady, lamented the problem of even discussing the topic in English.
Given the current state of our political process maybe we
should all be seeking medical attention because our “election” definitely lasts
more than 4 hours.
