Wow, voting day is finally here and my telephone will quit ringing so much, my mailbox will be less cluttered and I can either celebrate or cry in my proverbial beer.  This election 'season' has seemed to go on forever.  Several things are at top of mind this morning...

Milwaukee Police Unit Disbanded...

The special investigative unit of the Milwaukee Police Department that generated the 67 page election fraud report has apparently been disbanded some five days prior to today's election.  The detective who led that operation has, according to the Wall Street Journal, been relegated to the sidelines today.  John Fund of the Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Detective Michael Sandvick had predicted that Wisconsin could see as many as 55,000 illegal votes cast.  He cited the cross-border flow from Minnesota and Illinois since Wisconsin is one of only eight states that have 'same day' registration coupled with the weak verification of eligibility.  His estimate was that as many as 30,000 votes could be cast today in that manner. 

There are only two people of whom I'm aware who could've caused this 'stand down' and those are Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and/or Police Chief Flynn.  Neither has been available for interviews today to my knowledge.

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My Voting Site...

I drove past the site where I vote at about 7:20AM today and was astounded at the number of vehicles parked and at the length of the line of people waiting to move into the building to vote.  I plan to vote in the 9:00AM range and we'll see if this surge was simply caused by people on their way to work as I suspect.

At any rate, it certainly seems that our voter turn-out will be in the range predicted by the Village Clerk's staff which I recall was in the 73 percent range.

On top of this was an inordinately high number of absentee ballots being cast based on my casual observations of parking lot loads during the preceding couple of weeks and of anecdotal comments from people working in village hall.

UPDATE:  I voted at about 9:20AM and was number 580.  The people were still streaming in and there was about a ten minute wait at that time.

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Media Hype...

I am angered with what now seems to pass for the mainstream media so far as their seeming promotion of Obama's 'inevitable' victory.

We have been fed the 'facts' for many days that there is no way for McCain to win.  There are, unfortunately, too many voters who are swayed by this 'stuff' and who don't think for themselves.  If just 1% of potential voters were dissuaded from 'wasting' their time voting, the swing could become a 'self-fulfilling' prophecy.

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Direct Legislation...

Finally, we are witnessing direct legislation in Milwaukee concerning mandatory sick days from employers.  This would create a burden for many businesses that would force them to close or move thus negatively impacting the residents.  But, there are too many who can't or won't think these issues through and simply vote because they like the idea that they can have sick days. 

We are witnessing some 25 to 30 communities across the state that have ballot questions concerning 'mandatory health care plans similar to those afforded state employees'.  These types of issues are done at the state level but grass roots groups have begun to work at the local levels to bring some pressure to bear on state legislators.  The simple fact is that there isn't enough money in the state to provide that level of health care coverage for all the residents.  We would bankrupt ourselves.

Having family members in Colorado, I am reminded of the folly that those voters are subjected to in the form of ballot initiatives.  There are something on the order of fifty individual questions on ballots in Colorado today that require some real effort to understand.  The majority of voters do not take the time to do their own research and, instead, follow the direction of their associations or unions or professional affiliations.

This is a very dangerous thing, in my opinion, that lends some credence to the old saw about us voters getting the government we deserve.

I received several emails that provided some additional information and thoughts on the subject of the intersection at Mequon and Wausaukee Roads at the very east edge of the village.

Trustee Wolter was kind enough to send an email covering a meeting held at the Germantown Library on Thursday afternoon, April 24th.  The City of Mequon and Village of Germantown were represented, Senator Darling and Representatives Ott and Jeskewitz attended and several Department of Transportation representatives were present.

The topic was the intersection in question and DOT was seeking a 'compromise' for the signalization of the intersection.  The plan that was in process of implementation at that time was for two straight through lanes, dedicated left turn lanes with islands, and dedicated right turn lanes on Mequon with a single straight through lane traveling north and south on Wausaukee Road.

City of Mequon officials thought this was 'overkill' since they consider the area to be rural, and their planning supports that it will remain rural in their eyes.  They preferred the roundabout solution and were pushing for that as the outcome of this meeting.  Germantown officials wanted the intersection to stay as the DOT had designed and based this on the increased traffic due to Waste Management trucks and the increase in auto traffic east and west during weekday commute periods.  They also foresaw an increase in traffic as building in TIF 4 increased.  The DOT was looking out 20 years so far as design and capacity.

The 'compromise' that came from this meeting was this: a single straight through lane east and west on Mequon along with dedicated left hand and right hand turn lanes while Wausaukee stayed as designed with a single lane in both directions.  The provision was that something might need to be rebuilt if traffic projections were to be reached in the next ten years.

Conversations I have had indicate that some are concerned about the village being required to pick up the future cost while the DOT is now paying 100% of the costs for the construction.  Others have voiced the opinion that a roundabout was their preference, as well, and cited the thought that we may have been able to forego all construction if enforcement were to be stepped up in that area.  Still others questioned the need for any change suggesting that there were single digit accidents per year from their observations.

So, there is apparently a compromise in place. Maybe this will stay in place since all the 'official' parties were at this table.  As is customary, some of the 'unofficial' parties will continue to disagree.  That is among the reasons we hold elections every few years.