Everybody seems to have the same idea: Vote.
Across Lake and Sumter counties, people are voting their little heads off. Some folks at The Villages Public Library on Belvedere Boulevard are waiting up to an hour and a half to cast a ballot. At the Cagan Crossings Community Library in Four Corners, 50 people at a time were in line Saturday, when early voting started.
Since then, employees at the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections Office have been working 16-hour days at the four locations offering early voting.
"Honey, I've had more ballots returned to me than I've ever mailed out before. We're breaking records all over," Sumter Supervisor of Elections Karen Krause said.
"My mule's a little tired."
Uh-oh. Better beat that burro a little harder. The festivities are just starting.
Consider that earlier in the week, about 11,000 of 74,000 — 15 percent — of Sumter voters already had cast ballots. In Lake, the number topped 22,000, about 11 percent of the county's 201,000 registered voters.
"We like all this participation," gloated Jerry Foster, Lake's deputy supervisor.
That's a good thing, because they're about to get a lot more. There's still today and Saturday to vote early — yes, do it! — and then, of course, the election will be conducted Tuesday.
National polls show President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney locked in a close race.
It's the same story in Florida, where the state's 29 electoral votes are very much in play.
Wow. This is going to be a historic election. At this point, any little thing could tip the balance.
Both Foster and Krause suggested that voters could make the process go more quickly if they marked sample ballots at home, brought them to the polling places and copied their selections in the voting booth.
Krause has been handing out Tootsie Rolls to give voters in a line a boost of energy.
"If they need a chair or a blanket, we do whatever we can to make them comfortable and keep them laughing and help them get through the lines," she said.
Meanwhile, politicking outside the polling places is still in high gear, and some bullies are still on the warpath.
In Mount Dora, for example, a white-haired man was spotted spray-painting the word "Liar" on an Obama sign on U.S. Highway 441 just east of Wolf Branch Road.
Democrats filed a complaint with the Police Department on Monday and replaced the sign. By Wednesday morning, it had been defaced again, and they filed a second report.
A column in Sunday's Lake Sentinel decrying the animosity on all sides of the political spectrum and describing a screaming attack on a voter in The Villages drew kudos from the reasonable among us.
Here are some thoughts from Bill Cadiz, a retired businessman from Miami who lives in Eustis:
"The political sign thing has become particularly aggressive in this campaign. I have no problem displaying political preferences but to display anything — your preference for president, religion or philosophy — in a way that shouts 'Go ahead, dare express yourself! Make my day!' is bullying, pure and simple....
"I have wonderful neighbors, many conservative Republicans, who know how I feel about politics and religion. These good friends do not display their preferences, despite otherwise being honest and open about them. And I, respecting their opinions, return the favor and do not display my preferences, and as a result we get along just fine.
"This doesn't mean that other folks a few houses away have any restraints about planting the largest signs they can find on their lawns. The in-your-face attitude is wrong, rude and invites retaliation.
"If that is the definition of free speech and a vibrant democracy, we're in deep trouble. I can't wait until this nonsense is over."
So, there you have it. Just a few more days,, and most of it will go away.
Lritchie@tribune.com Her blog is online at OrlandoSentinel.com
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