Voting for lethargy

Voter turnout for the election today seemed, at least locally, even poorer than normal.  And that's saying something.

I trod a lonely path to the poll station and had a sense that I was intruding on the officials, who stopped reading their newspapers just long enough to draw a line through my name on the register and hand me my voting slips.  

A particular culture seems to have developed over the last few elections that it's perfectly fine for the polling clerks shamelessly to tune into the radio, browse the newspapers, read a book.  Dealing with any stray voters who chance by seems a mild irritation.  

Voter apathy now seems to have spread to the officials.