I used to like the petition process a lot more until I volunteered for a local campaign (to protect Fremont's hill from future development) and ended up working to collect signatures from a guy who they'd hired out of somewhere in LA. He'd moved here temporarily and registered here, so he could work on a campaign here, but when people would say, "Oh, how long have you lived in Fremont?" he'd reply, "I'm a registered voter here," then go on and change the subject. He'd say things like, "I really want to protect our hills," and I'd want to interrupt, "They're not your fucking hills, jerk." He got paid per signature (I didn't, I was volunteering) and would be pushy and rude and lie to get the signatures.

Now, though most signature-gatherers aren't pushy and rude, I still find myself avoiding them.

I hate going to the farmer's market on election years. Direct confrontation affects me the same way that a used car salesman rushing out onto the sidewalk and trying to drag me into their lot would: it just pushes me to the other side.

But I can't get to the local independent produce store (which actually buys from the same farmers, and sometimes has lower prices) without going through the market, or way out of my way. *sigh*