All the hoopla of the presidential contest aside, voting as a DC resident is a pretty unexciting prospect. First off, there’s no doubt that DC’s 3 electoral votes will go to Obama. Democrats enjoy third world dictator-levels of support in the District, and last I checked Obama was polling above 80% here.

You could vote for McCain, of course, or for a third-party candidate. Though, only Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney are on our ballot; if you wanted to vote for a right-wing third-party candidate, you’d have to write him in.

Then there’s our delegate to the House of Representatives–a non-voting member, I might add. The incumbent, Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, is being opposed by a candidate from the DC Statehood/Green Party. Holmes, who people tell me has made the most of her limited position in advocating for DC’s interests, is a lock.

And if having a non-voting member of Congress wasn’t bad enough, we also have races for “shadow” senator and “shadow” house member, two completely symbolic posts maintained by the DC government.

Apart from that, we are voting for two “at-large” members of the city council, an at-large member of the board of education (running unopposed), and a member of the board of education for our ward (also running unopposed).

So, to recap: we’ve got a presidential contest that’s a sure thing, a non-voting representative, two fake congresspersons, and some local officials running mostly unopposed. Gotta love democracy!