Happy Election Day!

Go vote. If you're hereabouts and you haven't, fill it out and mail it in.

There are some things I'm learning to like about universal vote-by-mail. Election day isn't one of them, because many if not most of the races I'm tracking won't have a definitive result tonight. The margins in some of the municipal races on the ballot will be in the dozens, not hundreds, of votes. There will be enough votes in the counts between now and the weekend to bring dismay to election night leaders.

Still, the convenience of voting at home, the way vote-by-mail eliminates many of the Republican voter suppression strategies and the continuing promise of higher voter interest and participation when parties and campaigns master the challenges of a new GOTV enviroment are meaningful trade-offs compared the demands for instant gratification from return junkies like me, I suppose.

I'll still look 'em up and try to read the tea leaves, of course, so stay tuned.