James Brown could sing it better than I can, but that’s how I felt this afternoon after I sent in my absentee ballot, all the way from Hunan, China. I had this mental picture of sticking it to Bush and Cheney, McCain and Palin. I hope it hurts. Ow!

An ex-pat, I discovered a few weeks ago that I could cast my vote in Indiana (my last US place of residence) by mail, fax or e-mail. All the necessary forms and instructions are right there on the Indiana state government website.

I want to extend a public thank you to Linda Moeller, the Floyd County Clerk, who in a very friendly manner immediately responded to my emails and faxes. (Linda’s a Democrat, by the way.)

While I could have preserved the secrecy of my vote by voting by mail, I chose the fax method. I wanted to be sure my vote arrived well within the Nov. 14 deadline. If Indiana is going to be a close race, I wanted to help decide the contest on Nov. 4.

Here’s the nuts and bolts, for anyone interested. If you are an ex-pat or someone in the uniformed services and are already registered to vote in Indiana, you fill in and fax form ABS-12 to your county clerk’s office. This form requests an absentee ballot be faxed back to you.

For whatever reason, Linda could not fax the ballot successfully earlier this week. Instead, she emailed the ballot and the secrecy-waiver cover sheet (ABS-9) to me on Monday. The cover sheet is an affidavit that you are waiving the secrecy of your vote. Without it, your ballot cannot be counted. No witnesses are needed; just fill it in and sign it.

I also had trouble faxing my ballot back today, because of a cranky multi-function printer/scanner/copier/fax in our office. I sent Linda an email, asking her to let me know if my ballot had arrived. It had. Case closed.

Because of the time difference, my faxes and emails arrived in her office in the wee hours of the morning today. I knew by the evening my time that all was well.

Since my vote is not secret, I don’t mind telling everyone that I voted for Obama-Biden. I will confess that it took me a while to warm up to Barack Obama. Hillary was my choice during the nomination run. Obama was eloquent, a gifted orator, but I wasn’t really sure he had the experience to be president. He could talk the talk, but could he walk the walk?

It may be hard to believe now, but the only Republican I had any respect for was John McCain. So, the choices before me were Obama and McCain.

To make a long story short, my respect for McCain quickly tanked after he picked Sarah Palin as his veep and sold out to the neocons and wingnuts in his party. Some frickin’ maverick he is.

Meanwhile, my estimation of Obama skyrocketed. His composure under pressure, his smooth handling of the debates, and most of all, his overall message of hope for a better USA, clinched the deal. I watched his half-hour program on YouTube after faxing my ballot in. It only confirmed that I made the right choice.

So, fellow ex-pat Hoosiers, warm up that computer and that fax machine, and GOTV! Modern technology has deprived you of all those lazy-ass excuses about sending in your paper ballot. It feels nice! Like sugar and spice!

Cross-posted on The Daily Kos