Voting is not a right that I take lightly. As someone who travels as part of my job, I do it by absentee 
ballot. I do my best to study the positions of all of the candidates. I revert to being a news junky. My hours spent listening to ESPN and the Road Dog Channel get shifted over to CNN, POTUS, and NPR. As a trucker I listen to the radio about 14 hours per day. Right now over 8 of it has become dedicated to national news.
It is my responsibility to get educated. I may argue my points on social media, but I don't get my news from there. I do “follow” people like Michael Smerconish and Gwen Ifil, on Twitter. I enjoy “long form” news where they can spend an hour on an interesting subject. Yes, I have core philosophical beliefs, but I believe that we should always listen to the other side and seek common ground. With today's multiple channels, it is easy to find channels that affirm our beliefs. It is better to listen to channels that challenge and inform us rather than ones that simply affirm our beliefs.
That takes me to my most recent voting experience. Let me first off say that I have a deep admiration 
for those people who fill small government elected positions. It isn't for the money. Their average hourly rate is close to what truckers get paid waiting for freight. My usual voting experience has been to call the town clerk. We arrange a time for me to go over to his house and vote. It is usually, well I am home right now. Come on over. The biggest obstacle was he had a big old friendly dog, who demanded to be petted. As a person who loves big old friendly dogs, it was my favorite part of voting.
We have a new town clerk since the election cycle. I called Friday morning, only to get her mother. The mother informed me that her daughter was out of town and it was to late to vote. I rechecked the web site. No, I had until 17:00 on Friday to vote. I called the county clerk's office. The deputy who took the call affirmed that I had until 17:00 to cast my ballot, but that the county clerk was unavailable at the moment. The deputy promised to get back to me within the hour. She did. The county clerk told me that they would have a ballot for me by 13:00. “Mom” had to drop it off.
The county clerk was waiting for me when I got there. She was apologetic. There was no need to be. This is a small county. The town that I live in is a “suburb” of a city of 2800 people. You have to try to see any neighbor's house from ours. The largest employer in my county is a dairy farm. This is how voting can go. It wasn't a big deal. I appreciate my right to vote and take it as a responsibility. I am going to miss that dog though.