On April 14, Better Donkey graced the League of Women Voters-sponsored King County Election Reform Town Hall with our super-fun presence. Elections Director Dean Logan gave us the scoop on the past year of elections in King County, and a couple of days later, Riisa and Amy had a little chit-chat about how it all went.

Amy:

So Riisa, I don't know about you, but maybe my favorite favorite part of the whole Better Donkey Does King County experience was walking into the church as a huge Donkey posse and getting all of those crazy looks from people!! I could tell they were excited to see us but at the same time, totally shocked at our extreme lack of blue haired old ladyness.

Riisa:

We totally walked in with a lot of energy and the church crowd took notice! And the Posse Presence continued throughout the whole meeting. We paid close attention AND asked really good questions. But let's not overlook the abundant spread of FREE cookies and Starbuck’s coffee Yum yum in my tum tum. Chocolate and caffeine is the best fuel-combo for a night of Election Reform discussion!

Amy:

Usually cookies and coffee are all the entertainment I need for a church basement evening, but actually Dean Logan’s presentation on the 2004 election report was really interesting... and makes me so proud of my county! Voter registration was up 40% from 2000, there was 83% voter turnout at the general election, AND there was record turnout at the primary even though there was that big ol' hullabaloo about having to choose a party in order to vote. Plus, who wouldn't get excited about King County printing ballots in Chinese!? I have such a crush right now.

Riisa:

You know who my crush is? Sabrina the Sassy Naval Officer! Sabrina gave thanks to the King County Election workers for their awesome effort to ensure that all of our neighbors serving overseas had their absentee ballots. She blew me away when she called out the Rossi Camp on their disingenuous support of the military vote ONLY when they realized they were losing! Republicans are so totally the bitches in junior high who are nice to the math nerds when they need their algebra homework done.

Speaking of school kids...Sabrina "the love of my life" got up to the mike AGAIN and shared an important point: "In high school I was forced to take a driver's ed class and I don't drive, however, I do vote. So what efforts are being made to introduce a basic voting rights/rules and regulations course to high school students?" Go Sabrina! Although Dean Logan did not have much of an answer for her, it was clear that the idea had planted itself nicely into his bespectacled nogin..."Voting For Change: a new elective at Franklin High?" we shall see...

Amy:

Sabrina was *so* awesome. Even awesomer? Was that she was only one of the new friends we made that night! Julian (who spoke also!) and Kelly, Tim, Jason, Andrew and CJ met up with us too, and we even managed to drag crunchy granola carpenter Charlie--who'd never even heard of Better Donkey before-- out to the Garage with us! I was really hoping that there would be a lot of crazy Rossi supporters there, and there were a few wingnuts-- Ruth in the American flag shirt was hopping mad about one non-citizen who she says was registered to vote, and there was that high school kid who got up in Dean Logan's face in between bites of his beef stick-- but nothing totally crazy happened.

Riisa, I don't know about you, but even though there were definitely some problems with election stuff this last year, I feel like Dean Logan really does care about having good, fair democratic elections. I trust him to make sure this stuff gets fixed.

Riisa:

Whew....we sure did learn allot at the King County Town Hall Meeting on Election Reform and made some great contacts along the way. Mr. Logan was a great presenter and the ladies of The League of Women Voters were gracious moderators.

You know, I can honestly say that the creaky chair sounds, musty church air, turtle necks with American Flags, old hippies and bitties with blue hair are just the kind of delicious details that makes Democracy so magical. I CAN'T WAIT until BetterDonkey goes to another public forum! So clear your throat dear Donkeys and get ready for some public speaky speak.