As a culture-watcher I found it fascinating that in Ohio Republicans were voting for Hillary Clinton in order to shore up a big win for John McCain in November.

“I voted for Hillary,” said Republican Eric Klieber, 56, of Cleveland Heights. “John McCain has a better chance of beating her than Barack Obama. . . . If the Democratic race was decided, I’m sure a lot of them would vote for the candidate less likely to win.”

Clinton was the defector’s choice in Cincinnati, too. In Hyde Park, an affluent neighborhood, a volunteer for Clinton said a number of Republicans told her they voted for Clinton in hopes of seating a Republican in the White House in November.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Brenda Weaver said, while passing out campaign literature outside a church. “I say, ‘Way to go, more votes for her!’ “

John McClelland, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party, said he was unfazed by the anecdotes, “as long as they turn around and vote Republican in the fall.” But some Republicans might have switched for good.

In Strongsville, middle-aged couple Lucy and Pete See – longtime Republicans – both voted for Clinton.

“I like that she has more experience in foreign affairs,” Pete See said. “The Republican candidate was older than me.”

Lucy See said she voted for Clinton as well. “I want to be part of making history,” she said.

Evidently some of the Republican voters were following instructions given by Rush Limbaugh to vote for Hillary in order to weaken the Democrats. Heavily Republican Clermont county ran out of Democratic ballots due to the huge number of crossover voters:

Joy Mysonhimer, a poll worker in Miami Township, Clermont County, said that in her 40 years of working, she had never experienced anything like the shortage of Democratic ballots.

“An awful lot of Republicans went Democrat, and that had not been anticipated,” she said. “They should have anticipated this.”

This election season continues to look more and more bizarre, which will fit in nicely with the upcoming opposition of Uranus and Saturn on election day. The conjunction of transiting Pluto to the Midheaven in the US chart is just about exact, and transformation and power struggles are par for the astrological course.