Big Bother

(A young girl of eighteen or nineteen, clearly a first-time voter, skips the line and rushes up to my table.)

Me: “I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait. There’s a line.”

Voter: “I’m sorry, but it’s important! I need to get my ballot paper back. I voted for the wrong person!”

Me: “All right, give me the spoiled one.”

Voter: “I can’t. I put it in the box.”

Me: “Then I’m afraid we can’t get it back. The boxes can’t be opened until the end of voting at ten o’clock.”

Voter: “But I didn’t know! I don’t want [Candidate] to get in so I voted for [Candidate]. I should have voted for someone else!”

Me: “Um, why did you vote for the candidate you didn’t want?”

(The girl turns scarlet and looks utterly miserable.)

Voter: “I thought it was like TV where you vote them off!”

This story is part of our Watching-Too-Much-TV roundup!

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