I voted today!
I voted today.
Which is nothing so noteworthy, except that it is actually the *first* time of my life that voting consisted of simply showing up in some building, filling out the ballot, dropping it into a box, and done.
All other votes that I've participated have been tremendously complicated, because done by distance, and hence requiring pre-registration, waiting for the voting ballot in the mail, finding another Austrian citizen to witness my voting (thankfully enough they did away with that a few years ago), then mailing it and hoping it would make it back in time.
Compared to that, this was such a piece of cake. 2 minutes maximum.
The way politics are developing here, it looks like I'll get the pleasure of voting in person again in a few months. Today's was about a referendum whether we keep conscription (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21110431). But the local (Salzburg) government also is embroiled in a scandal regarding mis-use of money, which will probably cause the government to fall and new elections in May. And then in September there will be national elections here (but by that time I'll be gone.) Busy election year!
Which is nothing so noteworthy, except that it is actually the *first* time of my life that voting consisted of simply showing up in some building, filling out the ballot, dropping it into a box, and done.
All other votes that I've participated have been tremendously complicated, because done by distance, and hence requiring pre-registration, waiting for the voting ballot in the mail, finding another Austrian citizen to witness my voting (thankfully enough they did away with that a few years ago), then mailing it and hoping it would make it back in time.
Compared to that, this was such a piece of cake. 2 minutes maximum.
The way politics are developing here, it looks like I'll get the pleasure of voting in person again in a few months. Today's was about a referendum whether we keep conscription (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21110431). But the local (Salzburg) government also is embroiled in a scandal regarding mis-use of money, which will probably cause the government to fall and new elections in May. And then in September there will be national elections here (but by that time I'll be gone.) Busy election year!