In the midst of yesterday’s Wall Street meltdown, I walked over to city hall and voted. The voting machines were all being used, so I opted for a paper ballot. In my view, it was an ill-designed ballot.

Instructions at the top advised to choose one party and only vote for candidates listed in that party’s section of the ballot.

A few problems. First, it wasn’t clear in the instructions that there was a place down on the left hand side below to choose which party you were selecting. It would have been very easy to find the Democratic races, for example, vote only in those, but leave the separate party selection item unmarked. Would that void the ballot? I don’t know.

Second, the parties were all very close together without clear separations between them. For example, they weren’t clearly boxed off or spaced apart from each other. Again, a source of potential errors.

Third, just to be confusing, the sample showed a paper ballot and instructed to completely fill in the oval next to the name using a black or blue pen. The ballot actually had a square. I looked for ovals. Not to be found.

After completing the paper ballot, you put it into a scanner. It gives a simple “thank you” when the ballot is processed. There’s no opportunity to be sure that it read the ballot correctly. Why couldn’t it show a screen of your votes and ask if they are all correct?

It’s possible that the voting machines make everything much clearer and smoother, and don’t have the problems of the paper ballot. I hope so.

But, as I recall, this is the ballot that was rushed to the printer without the review by party officials that is required by law. In my book, I count it as another of a growing list of issues that are the responsibility of chief election officer Cronin.

Mr. Mike, my friend now living over in Hilo, passed along this column from his hometown newspaper in Brownwood, Texas, which briefly traces the history of the Texas Mavericks, a family that added the term to our political lexicon. The conclusion:

…

I would like to say I know enough about the original Mavericks and what the word means, to say, without reservation, that Sen. John S. McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin are not mavericks.

How about a few things to read? I found this op-ed useful: “Has the surge prevented peace in Iraq?”

Or how about this allegation of a former Georgia official that President Mikheil Saakashvili had been planning an attack on South Ossetia for several years and was not the innocent victim of a Russian invasion.

Sorry. At about 5:50, perhaps a half-hour before dawn, the eastern sky turned a brilliant red. I could see it from my spot at the dining table where I set the laptop every morning. So I grabbed the camera and we were off early, leaving this entry to be completed after our return from the beach.

So, still on miscellaneous reading. How about hints of continuing links between the CIA and drug dealing?

Just before the weekend’s financial meltdown, Fitch Ratings had reaffirmed its views of Hawaii’s economy, which in their view doesn’t look too bad despite problems ahead. Of course, that was then and this is post-Lehman.

One last note–Remember the report last week that state tourism officials were going all out to get the United Church of Christ to reverse its decision to bail of of a 2011 national gathering in Hawaii?

“We’re giving this a full court press,” a convention center official said.

I haven’t seen any mention whether or not this effort was successful….tick, tock, tick, tock.

And with all the chaos, how about a bit of calm? This was the view from Kaaawa beach yesterday morning just before 7 a.m.