Mammillaria wagneriana

Prop Y passed by a resounding two-to-one margin! All of Anne’s hard work campaigning for this proposition paid off. Our MRH school district has seen a remarkable increase in its student population. We have become a destination district. Missouri does not fairly shoulder its educational responsibilities as do some other states. So, meeting this increased responsibility, while maintaining our high academic standards necessitated a tax levy. The alternative was only to go backwards. Fortunately, the voters agreed and we can now move forward.

This election wasn’t without its controversy though. Statewide this was a municipal only Election Day, so only local issues and elections were on the ballot. Saint Louis County has about sixty different municipalities and a similar number of intersecting school districts. The combination of which creates a hell of a lot different ballots. Deadlines precluded having the touchscreen machines available, so everything was old fashion paper ballots and there’s the rub. It was all too much for the Saint Louis County Election Commission and mistakes were made. At our polling place three different precincts voted. Each precinct had its own ballot and its own expected voter turnout, but two of those turnout amounts were switched. I was unaffected, because I voted early. Anne wasn’t affected either, because she absentee voted, but a lot of other people were. 

Anne worked the polls as an election official, but was fortunately spared from the day’s brew-ha-ha, because her polling site had the luxury of servicing only one precinct. Still, she was up at four, on station at five, open at six, didn’t close until seven and didn’t get home until much later. She didn’t do it for the money, the hours put her below minimum wage. She did it out of a sense of civic duty.