I didn't want to let the likes of Orlando, Atlanta, or Tampa catch us, so I voted early and voted often. Oddly, this was allowable.
And then one day there were 16 finalists. One of those is JAX. Time to get it done.
As of July 22, 2018, Jacksonville is in first place for getting the $25,000 prize. However, there will be a push from these other cities before the August 31st deadline.
I keep the website open on my Chromebook, and I just vote a half-dozen times whenever I think of it. And no, my own kids probably won't benefit from this, and my own local library might not benefit as much as another one, but this is our Jacksonville, people. The good news is that we can get our local students and families voting well before schools in some parts of the country start up for the year. The bad news is that larger cities like Atlanta and Orlando can make up a lot of ground with one Tweet by some famous local person, so that means we need to keep on voting.
Either that or vote to spend more money on libraries with our taxes. Wait, that won't happen, so vote online instead.
Tonight while I was voting continuously, eventually Quito, Ecuador, started catching up to me and my expanding lead. That leads me to assume there's a few bored guys sitting on their laptops in Ecuador doing the same thing as me. I'm not sure they'll continue, but I can't hold several of these guys off all on my own, so if you're an awkward 30 year-old who still lives with your parents in Jacksonville, give me a hand here. You don't even have to leave the house or meet new people.
BTW, the highest the voting got in favor of Jacksonville as I wrote this article was 33.02%. That's pretty good considering there are 16 cities involved. But that kind of lead really can't be expected to last.
After a couple of days of voting, Cleveland made a run, which means people must have realized they were stuck in Cleveland with nothing else to live for. Quito seemed to quit-o, but it's probably all a reminder that you don't want to poke any of the sleeping giants like Orlando or Atlanta. Or Cleveland.
[UPDATE]
I read somewhere that only five finalists get the $5000 award, so keep voting for Jacksonville.
