taking chances

voting time was supposed to be from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm but i was able to cast my vote past 6:00 pm already.  i was at the polling place around 4:30 pm and i was number 92 on the queue list.

i was telling a fellow voter (his queue number was over 100) that i intentionally came near closing time because i wanted to give them time to fix the vote counting machine.

my sister was there 7:30 am and she told me the VCM at our precinct was not working.  she said they were given the option to either wait for the machine to get fixed or cast their vote and just leave their ballots with the election officers who will just be the ones to enter it in the vote counting machine.

fellow voter:  'oh, if it's me, i'm not going to leave my ballot.  i want to put it in the machine myself.'

me:  'that's what my sister wanted, too.  she first waited two hours.  then she went home.  then she came back.  the machine was still not working.  only then did she opt to just cast her vote and leave her ballot with the election officers.  that guy was telling me the machine got fixed around 3:30 already.  good thing i came 4:30.  if it still wasn't fixed by closing time, i would opt to just leave my ballot, too.'
[at our precinct alone, more than a hundred people already did.]

fellow voter:  'i would rather not vote than leave my ballot with those people.  what if they don't enter it in the machine?  or if they change it?'

me:  'ah, me, no.  i'd avail myself of the option to leave my ballot.  if i just go home without voting, it's already 100% sure that my vote won't be counted.  if i leave my ballot, there's still a chance that it will be counted.  i didn't let the probability fall to zero.'

the first step to winning is simply showing up.

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