Election Day Reflections

I considered voting early, but hearing about the extremely long lines on the local news I thought I would wait until election day – my poling place is generally pretty fast moving and I’ve only had to wait up to an hour in line before.  An hour?  Quite doable compared to 4 others were experiencing.

Time slipped by and 4:20 rolled around and I thought I had better run before the folks getting off early from work get in line.  Made it!  Parked right next to the door and didn’t even need my folding chair and “busy bag” to pass the time while waiting to vote.  Walked into the building, was greeted with smiles from the officials and had to wait a whole 2 minutes while the person in line before me signed her name.

My county has the fill-in-the-oval we all remember from standardized tests.  After making choices the voter inserts the forms through the optical scanner.  But…the ONE scanner at my polling place was malfunctioning and the option provided was to deposit the forms it in a large locked bin.

The news reported generally smooth voting for most of the county but there were problems – a few of the scanners “lost” their scanned results.  The supervisor of elections was not available for comment but provided a statement that put the blame totally on the lack of customer support from the company selling the units.  Fortunately we won’t have to listen to him blame others in the future as he was NOT re-elected.  If the system doesn’t work correctly, admit it! Don’t just point fingers and whine it wasn’t your fault.

Postcard – 1937 Art Deco US Post Office-Miami Beach Florida

1937 Art Deco US Post Office-Miami Beach, Florida

Ebay Item 150256899536 (or click here)

I’m having fun collecting and then selling postcards on ebay, and learning about the history and architecture of the different scenes. The card I’m talking about today is especially fascinating. It is different from other post offices that look like the same design done over and over again.

This is what I wrote for ebay:

The Post Office is located at Washington and 13th St. Built in 1937 the building has fewer decorative details and a more somber look than what we normally associate with Art Deco and is known as “Depression Moderne.” Inside WPA muralist Charles Hardman painted a three-panel mural of Ponce de Leon’s invasion of Florida. The ceiling fixture that looks like the sun, and there is a fountain. All in a US Post Office!

I was doing a little more research on the post office for this blog post and found there is a Post Mark Collectors Club on the internet and they not only collect the postmarks from different post offices, but visit and take a photo and learn about the history of the location. Click here for the page for Florida. A couple of the pictures show murals in other locations.

and an OOPS for me…also found this quote

“Often mistaken for WPA art, post office murals were actually executed by artists working for the Section of Fine Arts. Commonly known as “the Section,” it was established in 1934 and administered by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department. Headed by Edward Bruce, a former lawyer, businessman, and artist, the Section’s main function was to select art of high quality to decorate public buildings if the funding was available. By providing decoration in public buildings, the art was made accessible to all people.” from “Articles from EnRoute : Off The Wall: New Deal Post Office Murals” by Patricia Raynor

So I have been corrected – it isn’t “WPA art”

The Alabama Dept of Archives and History reveals that each post office received a budget of $650-$750 to cover all the costs – materials, installation, and finally photos of the finished art.