Mother To Challenge Son’s Absentee Vote

DES MOINES, Iowa — A Grinnell mother said Sunday that her son’s vote shouldn’t be counted and she intends to challenge his vote.

Brenda Lyddon said her son, Christopher Willis, 26, is developmentally delayed. He lives at the CIRSI group home in Grinnell, an assisted living home for people with developmental disabilities.

Lyddon said he son should never have voted because he has the mind of a 7-year-old.

“He cannot read. He can barely write and so he could never even read a ballot. He couldn’t tell you who’s on there. He couldn’t tell you who’s running — vice president, local, congressional, nothing,” said Lyddon.

Willis told KCCI’s Ryan Luby that he voted for Sen. Barack Obama. When Luby asked who was running for president this year, Willis answered “Barack Obama and John McCain.”

When asked which parties the candidates represented, Willis said “John McCain is with Democrat party.” He couldn’t identify which party Obama represented.

“I have never registered him because I don’t feel he can make his own decision and he can’t and he’s easily influenced,” said Lyddon.

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Bag of Randomness

  • I think something important is going to happen today, but I just can’t remember what that something is.
  • Mouse on frog.  Link
  • While reading Monday Morning Quarterback yesterday I learned that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick use to dress up as his idol Roger Staubach as a kid.
  • Speaking of MMQB, I was touched reading the Good Guy of the Week section about former Buffalo Bills QB Jim Kelly inititive for universal newborn screening.  As a hopeful oneday parent, this news interests me.  I may have to write my congressman to help support the inititive.  You can learn more about the cause he is fighting for here.
  • I been thinking a lot about the Atlanta Falcons as of late.  In a weird sort of way, they were cruxified (Vick and the dogfighting), buried (last season overall and their head coach quitting during the season), and have been born again.  I know they only played Oakland last week, but I like what I’m seeing.  If anything, this team feels like it has momentum.
  • James Dobson had a change of heart and decided to vote for McCain after all.  Link
  • Life can be frustrating.  I have a friend that thinks he’s funny and he keeps hounding me about little things that make me, me.  I can take some ribbing, but when it goes on and on it just gets frustrating.  Recently he said something and I came back and teased him harder than normal and he took offense to it, so I apologized and stated my frustration, but the apology evidently didn’t matter as his anger carried over to the weekend and he’s not being friendly.  I feel like I should address the issue or apologize again even though I don’t think what I said was really that bad, but then again that could be seen as pushing the envelope and I think I’ve already done my due diligence by apologizing.  I guess it’s one of those things where time heals all wounds.  But sometimes I wished I was calloused enough to not even care.
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy now makes total sense.  Link
  • Frustration-Free Packaging from Amazon.com.  Link
  • I studied this Comparison Chart of Beliefs of Christian Denominations for about two hours yesterday.  I plan on digging into these charts later in the week.  I think I’ve discovered a denomination where I would feel pretty darn comfortable being associated with, yet I have never worshiped in that kind of church.  With all that said, I’m still attached to my current church and not comfortable sharing any more than that as of right now.
  • If you are interested in watching the end of the winning Southwest Airlines Halloween skit just click here.  It was based off Mama Mia.
  • The cheapest care in the U.S. will be the Nissan Versa at $10,685.  Link
  • “How I Met Your Mother” is a fun show.  I could sing that intro song all day.
  • I have never eaten candy corn nor do I have a desire to ever try it.
  • I saw that Anthony Edwards is going to make a guest appearance on ER.  I thought he said when they killed off the character he had no interest in returning, even in a dream sequence.
  • Has anyone seen that Treximet commercial?  You can watch it here, I’m sure it will keep the kids up at night.
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Astronauts to Vote From Space Station

While most Americans will flock to the polls Tuesday to cast their vote for the next U.S. president, two U.S. citizens will beam their ballots down from the International Space Station as they fly 220 miles (354 km) above Earth.

Like all U.S. spaceflyers since 1997, NASA astronauts Michael Fincke and Gregory Chamitoff can vote in their local and national elections thanks to a handy Texas state law that ensures their ballots can be counted, even from space.

“So I’m going to exercise my privilege as a citizen and actually vote from space on Election Day,” Fincke, the space station’s Expedition 18 commander, told SPACE.com before he left Earth. “I think the candidates this year are exciting in and of themselves. But hopefully we get people to realize what a privilege it is, and they exercise and get a chance to vote.”

Only four Americans in NASA’s 50-year history have voted from space, largely because the Texas law allowing was passed just 11 years ago, said Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters, a spokesperson with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. And just one of those four, now-retired spaceflyer Leroy Chiao, voted during a presidential election in 2004 while commanding the space station’s Expedition 10 crew.

How does it work?

The process of voting from space actually begins on the ground. According to the 1997 bill, astronauts in space can cast an absentee ballot from their spacecraft with the help of the County Clerk of Harris and Brazoria counties, which contain Houston and its surrounding area.

The County Clerk’s office prepares a secure electronic ballot that is then relayed to the International Space Station via NASA’s Mission Control room at the Johnson Space Center. Meanwhile, the Clerk’s Office sends a separate e-mail to the astronaut with login information to access the ballot and vote.

“So there’s this plan in place and I’ll have an electronic ballot and be able to vote from up here,” Chamitoff told SPACE.com from the space station recently.

The completed ballot is then beamed back to Mission Control and sent back to the County Clerk’s office to be tallied.

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