1. I voted on the spur of the moment, because an errand took me near the polling place. I didn't have my voter registration card. No problemo. My name was on the rolls, so my Texas driver's license was accepted. Yes, it's convenient. No, I don't think automatically registering someone to vote when they get a driver's license is a good idea.
2. The elderly lady ahead of me in the line had a mild conniption when the voting assistant pushed three ballots toward her on the table and said "Take your pick."
"Are they different?" she asked.
"Nope," the clerk replied sheepishly.
"So, why give me three?"
"You can't have three. These are all the same. They're identical."
"I can't have three, but you give me three? What's the matter with you?"
"State law," the clerk said. "I can't hand you a ballot. It's illegal. So I put three of them out there and you have to pick up one on your own volition."
The elderly voter picked up a ballot and wandered off muttering imprecations against lawyers and legislators.
"Why don't you pass out blind folds?" I asked.
The clerk cackled and pushed three ballots toward me across the table top.
3. Big, big goof happened while I was there. While voting, I hear a man in line say, "I'm a Democrat! Where's my ballot box??"
All the assistant clerks jerked up their heads. He might as well have asked for a porta-potty. Seeing their confusion, he pointed to the ballot box.
"See there? It's labeled 'Republican.' Where's the one labelled 'Democrat?'"
During primary elections, there is indeed a separate ballot box for Democratic ballots and Republican ballots. The dingdongs just plopped down a ballot box, without noticing that it bore a neatly printed piece of paper with the word REPUBLICAN on it, affixed to the box under the slot with a swatch of clear plastic tape.
So, now I'm waiting to find out if the local Dims decide to invalidate all the early voting. [sigh]