Seeing that Election Day has once again arrived, I found my ballot on the coffee table this morning and diligently fulfilled my civic responsibility. It's been sitting there for a couple of weeks, but even given my participation with Citizen Voices, there's been nothing to really draw my interest this time. So I sat down with some coffee and the pamphlet and the internet and I voted.

There were a few abstentions on my ballot, and even after putting the ballot in the official yellow envelope and taking it down to the firestation to be counted, I had some lingering doubts about why we're going through this again.

I may not be alone: there were no other voters present at the polling station I visited to drop off my ballot.

The local primaries for the Republican candidates for Congress and the State Assembly were both uncontested, and I voted for Nathan Fletcher for Assembly but couldn't bring myself to vote for Brian "Borderfence" Bilbray for Congress. Escondido has no local races or initiatives on the ballot this time around. The initiatives were easy for me: No and No.

The only real questions for me were on the judges' races, and even here I'm not going to let any of those candidates know how I voted. 

For me, this was a nothing election. February was a big one. November will be huge, both for national and statewide issues. This one? Interesting, especially given some of the San Diego city races. But since I can't vote for those positions while I live in Escondido, the interest remains purely academic, and nothing I can get excited about.

I'll watch the returns tonight, but with more interest in developments in Montana and South Dakota than in the California winners and losers.  For me it's time to move on to the next phase, and the battles that matter in November.

-Citizen Voices blogger Chuck Hartley is an attorney who lives in Escondido.