By Bud Kennedy
bud@star-telegram.com
Election Day is today.
And a few more days.
But today is the last weekend chance to show up at any polling place and vote your choice for president, senator, Congress and everybody down to Wise County surveyor.
Voting begins at 11 a.m. (Hint: Go later and skip the Cowboys game.)
You can vote today anywhere from the courthouse in Southlake Town Square to Grand Prairie's Asia Times Square.
Go. No matter what some Tea Party says.
Tea Party clubs based in Grapevine and Keller sent hundreds of alarmist e-mails last week, warning "VOTER ALERT!" and hinting that county officials might tinker with the vote.
Tarrant County's chief elections officer, Steve Raborn, checked out the only formal complaint.
One Mitt Romney vote had vanished in Bedford.
"We believe the voter pushed the wrong key," Raborn said Friday.
Perennial complainer Dorothy McWhorter, 79, turned out to be the voter who set off Tea Party paranoia across North Texas.
She claimed that she marked a straight Republican ticket but that the eSlate tablet deleted her presidential vote.
"I've waited four years to throw that son of a gun [President Barack Obama] out of office," she said Friday.
"I made one mark. Then I hit 'enter.'"
Raborn's reply: "If you hit 'enter' instead of 'next,' that erases your first vote."
The instructions for the eSlate -- ironically, sold by some Romney donors through an Austin company -- say specifically to use the dial or "next" button to change lines: "The ENTER button should be used only to make selections."
McWhorter still wasn't satisfied.
"I showed the clerk!" she said.
According to Raborn, the clerk reported: "Mrs. McWhorter was angry."
A technician found no problem, he said.
Yet, by midweek, the Grapevine-based Northeast Tarrant Tea Party alone had sent hundreds of false e-mails saying that "reliable, local sources -- legitimate, intelligent folks" had seen their votes vanish or change to Democrats.
Late Friday, the Tarrant County Republican Party had to send its own e-mail debunking the Tea Party.
Finally.
Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538Twitter: @budkennedy
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