Lane von Herzen: Update: Voting Notification

My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Update: Voting Notification

OIG Hotline, my husband and I successfully turned in our ballots in person at the Portola Valley Town Center, initially stopping off at the Portola Valley Library to ask whether there was a staffed polling station close by or only a drop box. The librarian, strangely, providing us with disinformation, wrongly stating that only a drop box had been provided for Portola Valley. One hundred yards away was a fully staffed polling station, which my husband and I fortunately located independently.

We spoke to the three staff persons on site at the polling station, who checked our signatures and address prior to our depositing our own ballots into the voting receptacle.

This felt celebratory.

What a privilege to give voice to one's opinions through peaceable civil procedure.

For security purposes, I filmed my completed ballot prior to leaving my house, along with my signing of the envelope and completing my address, also prior to leaving my property. I maintained photographs of the document in its entirety, which can be found within my gmail account, sent to your attention with the subject heading ATTN: OIG HOTLINE Re: Lane MacWilliams' March 5, 2024 California Democratic Primary Ballot, sent on March 1, 2024 at 5:17 PM.

Following our voting, my husband and I stopped off at Robert's Grocery on the way home. While the manager/owner was overattentive, appearing to follow us around the store and attempt to force conversation -- our grocery shopping otherwise appeared to be normal.

We proceeded home after that, arriving at approximately 3:20 PM.

Thank you for allowing me to document these details.

Most sincerely,