Last year, on November 2, I was still undecided about whether to cast a vote for George Bush. I had decided not to vote for John Kerry, so my decision was between a vote for George Bush and a protest abstention. That afternoon, I visited the polling place, and I recount my experience here:

I skipped the portion of the ballot with the presidential candidates, and marked my choices for the other races. Then I stared at the line for Bush-Cheney. Five minutes I stood there and stared. I recounted a mental list of issues -- including, importantly, Chief Justice Rehnquist's bad health -- and ultimately decided that my preference for Bush over Kerry was strong enough to overcome my inclination to register a protest. I voted for Bush.

The process that led me to cast that vote was a long one. At the end of September, I publicly declared my intention to abstain on Times & Seasons (you will need to wade through some Mormon-speak to get to it), and the reaction was immediate. One of my virtual friends wrote: "It's our religous duty, it seems to me, to figure out who is better. Being weary shouldn't be an excuse. Being a law professor, you must have ideas about what makes a good justice. The next 30 years of Constitutional law may depend on which candidate wins the election, and one of the candidates will pick better justices than will the other."

With the nomination of John Roberts, I felt that my vote was vindicated. With the nomination of Harriet Miers, I feel profoundly disappointed.

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