EXTRA SPECIAL: 7 November, noon—We just received notification that the Region 20 High School Name Survey closes tomorrow. For some reason, Ed Kolakoski Memorial High School wasn’t included among the permitted names. If you want Ed Kolakoski to be remembered as he deserves to be, send your vote to cescobar@rsd6.org and/or cleone@rsd6.org before it’s too late.

7 November—Election moderators in Connecticut have to wake up at an ungodly hour in order to get the polls ready to open at 6 a.m. That’s why, even though I was certified as a moderator in the last century, I’ve never moderated an election. I expect my certification has expired by now, so let it be.

Even worse, voting early and voting often isn’t as easy as those not intimately involved in the process may think. Making the rounds of the friendly little towns in Litchfield County isn’t that onerous, to be sure, and driving from town to town on ConnDOT’s abysmally maintained but invariably quiet country roads isn’t bad at all—just so long as you dodge the potholes.

But driving down to Waterbury, then to Bridgeport, then back up to New Haven, and finally to Hartford is no fun at the best of times. On Election Day, besides everything else, it’s simply impossible to get to all the cities that are in serious need of extra votes—add Stamford, Middletown, Torrington, and Danbury, for instance. So you feel like you’ve left your job only half-done.

Paid professional early-and-frequent voters really deserve our full sympathy, commiseration, and admiration. Because getting stuck in inter-inner-city traffic jams of fellow paid professional voters who are on their cell phones getting directions to the next points of strategic ballot casting and then jumping the queues—make that negotiating the serpentine lines—in the polling places in order to maximize profit obviously put their lives in danger, to say the least—and not just in the usual suspect cities.

But isn’t that what capitalism is all about?

In all events, unpaid, but none the less experienced and unquestionably adept volunteer early-and-frequent voters motivated by nothing more nor less than democratic-populist altruism also deserve our sympathy, commiseration, and admiration. And maybe a bit of disgust. Because you have to wonder if it’s really worth their bother in the grand scheme of things.

And when you think about it, aren’t they taking business away from the paid professionals?