Now I REALLY have something to fear!

[ChiefAtHeart]

It has been in the news that there will be five voting places in the United States for Iraqis. Guess where one of them is? Right next to where I work in Nashville! :shocked Yep, for the last two weeks in January there will be barricades around the area and the police will be checking IDs and searching the cars of anyone going through.

The management at work is taking this very lightly and they've just been joking around about it. But I don't relish the thought of working next to a prime terror target for two weeks. My husband is even more upset about it. He thinks I should take two weeks off, but I know my company won't let me do that.

Apparently they are registering people to vote on the 17-19 and the actual voting starts on the 28th. I would think those would be the most dangerous days. Maybe I could just take them off as a compromise.

What do you guys think?

[noflyingfan]

Hmm...maybe I'm being ignorant here, but why are there polling places in the U.S. for Iraqis?

My thoughts would be, though, if it were me...I wouldn't take the time off. I'd ask my boss what the company was doing to take precautions against any potential terrorism and if the company had been informed of any threats, what directives they have received. If you don't feel comfortable with the answer, take the time off.

[Passenger Mark]

Hey Chief!

Ericka gave you some real good advice.

I would get all the information I could, and ask VERY direct questions about what the plans are. Of course they may not be able to tell you some stuff for security reasons. And this is to be expected.

But I would educate myself. In this case, Ray's motto of "With Knowledge Comes Comfort" applies to more than just flying.

Ericka, I don't think your question was ignorant. I was wondering the same thing. I suppose there are Nationals over here on a Visa. However, I would not think it would be so many that they have to set up polling places. I would think they could handle this through the mail. Like absentee ballots.

Just my thoughts.

[noflyingfan]

Nationals on a Visa makes sense, I guess. It just seems weird. If I went to England or something for a year, I couldn't register to vote there for here.

(Unless I could and just don't know, but it seems kind of silly).

[ChiefAtHeart]

I agree. I wish they would let them vote by mail-in ballot like Americans in other countries who want to vote do. Apparently Nashville has one of the highest Kurd populations (5,000-8,000). They are putting people at risk by not having them do mail-in ballots in my opinion. Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C. and one other city are going to be having these polling centers.

The Dept. of Homeland security is not telling us much about exactly what kind of security there will be. My company plans to "co-operate with the authorities" but are not doing anything else. It is a small company (25 employees). Can you believe they even said "I don't want to hear the excuse that you were stopped at the barricade if you are late to work." I really don't think my company cares a thing about us.

[noflyingfan]

There's one in Chicago? Great. Perhaps I should start paying a little more attention to these things.

It is really bothersome that your company is being so mean about this thing. The reporter in me wants you to call your local newspaper, tell them everything your company told you (on the condition of anonymity if you're afraid of repercussions) and have them check it out.

The paper probably won't get very far with the Dept. of Homeland Security but a phone call from a reporter may prompt your company to do a little more for its employees.

The average citizen in me doesn't know what you should do. :think