Today is the deadline to register to vote to be eligible for Tennessee’s February 5 presidential primary elections. Will the recent theft of registered voter information from the Davidson County Election Commission have any impact? Honestly, it probably won’t have a huge effect, but in an age of voter apathy, it sure won’t help. The Ad Council is hoping to inspire additional civic involvement nationwide through it’s new getgoodkarma.org Web site. I’m more of the “virtue is its own reward” school of thought, but I’m all for anything that encourages more of us to participate in community life. Please take time to register and to vote.

Why should you vote? If you know Robert Fulghum’s famous book All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, here’s similar inspiration for supporting democracy from Tennessee History for Kids:

Vote. When you turn 18, you will be allowed to vote. There are many countries where people are not allowed to vote. The people in those countries have no say as to how their government runs or who their elected officials are. Where would you rather live – a place like that, or a place like the United States

If you vote for no other reason today, you’ve done enough. Please take the time to head to the polls this afternoon. (The polls close at 7 p.m., and Nashville.gov will show you were you can cast a ballot.)

I’ve already voted in this election, but I thought this marquee had really good advice last night. I’m really tired of the negative attack ads (though I keep hearing that they are effective) and all the hype, and I sure wish that people with various opinions could just calmly, reflectively and compassionately consider the issues. I wish we as a nation could constructively focus our attention on the most critical problems we face and look for real, practical solutions that serve the common good.

I know that’s an incredibly naive and idealistic wish, one that isn’t likely to happen. But I still feel that way.

I early (and electronic) voted today. Even at 9:15 a.m. at the Green Hills Library, all the voting machines were occupied. There was not a line, but there appeared to be a steady stream of voters coming in. I have some concerns about a “paper trail” documenting electronic results, but otherwise my experience was positive. It was easy to vote, and I was in and out quickly.

I tried to capture a shot of the machine in action on my Treo, but I accidentally obscured the image with my thumb. Oops. The stock photo above will have to suffice.