Election Day

Tuesday 6th November

US election day has arrived - for the first time in a long while we are mere observers in an election rather than being able to participate.  In fact that in itself is rather odd and has got us thinking about the importance of being able to cast one's opinion in national matters.  However, for once, this post isn't supposed to be about us.

We have been fairly immune to the electoral campaign until the past few days.  This is because we have yet to fully engage with US television and although Pennsylvania is a swing state, it is not one of the most critical.   However, in the past few days, posters have popped up on all the highways and local gardens, radio adverts have come thick and fast and Mit Romney (and the BBC) have arrived in nearby Bucks County for a Republican rally.

Once again the children are much better informed than we are in matters relating to USA.  They can tell us the qualifying requirements to stand for President, the main campaign points of the candidates, they have voted in a mock election but, most importantly, they can explain the Electoral College.   So, for the baffled out there, here goes.  Each state is awarded a number of votes in an electoral college roughly in proportion to its population.  The largest number of votes are held by California (54) and several states have only a handful of electoral votes.  The candidate wins by gaining 270 electoral votes.   A state awards all of their votes to one candidate based on how the citizens of that state votes.  Pennsylvania has 20 votes, and as I write, has called for Obama but the final results of the election will not be known until tomorrow after the close states of Florida, Ohio, Viriginia announce their results.   The election today is not just for the President but also for the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as local state representatives, but we have yet to work out these more complicated aspects.  The most interesting thing I learned today was about voting access.  Following abolition of slavery many attempts were made to try to limit access to voting by introducing various hurdles eg educational requirements etc.  Several Supreme Court decisions later and the upshot is that bureaucratic requirements associated with voting are absolutely minimised (unless of course you are a legal alien).  We await the result with interest (via BBC World Service of course!).

Remember, remember......

Sunday 4th November

We are determined to foist our British ways on the locals and bonfire night seemed a good start.  We had had plans of holding a small party to get together with new found friends but, despite now having enough debris for many a bonfire, we were slightly foiled by our health and safety hazard of a fallen tree balancing on power lines in our garden and the local state laws on fireworks which make it illegal for a PA state resident to purchase or transport fireworks in PA (apparently you need to go to New Jersey).  Instead we settled for a session with 1st grade on Friday telling them the story of the plot and teaching them to remember remember, and, this evening, hot chocolate, chocolate cake and sparklers with the closest neighbours around a small fire pit.  The weather even obliged by cooling down to feel like the real McCoy!  We can build up to something more akin to the real thing next year.