Reverse Culture Shock

For the first time, I am not participating in an election in which I am eligible to vote. I blame the ash cloud. And of course, it’s an historic British election that I was jubilantly excited to vote in, as only die-hard voters are.

After years of casting my ballot in every American election that came up, from local to federal, electing judges, district councillors, and other posts that wouldn’t draw most voters to the polls, I miss the one that people around the world are talking about.

I have always been an election enthusiast, so I am greatly bothered to be sitting on the sidelines of this one. It’s the closest election in more than 30 years, and certainly the most interesting one in my two-year-long lifetime as a British citizen.

My postal ballot never arrived. That is most likely the fault of the havoc wreaked on the mail service by the Icelandic ash cloud last month. Maybe it’s time to put the ballots online. That measure would get my vote.