I am not going to echo the great Heather Cox Richardson and present you a long and detailed essay, with appropriate historical annotation, telling you who you should vote for on Nov. 5 (or earlier if you choose).

We all have been bombarded with way too many nasty attack ads voiced by sneering announcers, suggesting, nay, ordering us to vote for/not vote for a candidate.

Why should you agree with them? Because they say so? Balderdash.

I'll bet you already have chosen a presidential candidate. You may have voted already. At least that is what the TV talking heads say.

They claim to have sifted and perused the poll’s cross tabs of legit and non-legit polls and decided that the race is in a dead heat, or at least within the margin of error.

And, if you think I believe in the polls, you might have been sucking on those now legal cigarettes or sipping a nice, brown, adult beverage whose name begins with Glen.

So, I thought I would stick my tongue in my cheek and explore the least important ballot question on the Nov. 5 election.

And here it is. You will find it on the bottom of your ballot. Don’t miss it.

QUESTION 5 - An Act to Restore the Former State of Maine Flag. Do you favor making the former state flag, replaced as the official flag of the State in 1909, and commonly known as the Pine Tree Flag, the official flag of the State?

I am not making this up.

Now, is this a good idea? Should we get rid of “Old Blue?”

I have no idea what it costs to include this question on the general election ballot. I suppose it is just another paragraph or two added to the end of a long and confusing ballot, so it shouldn’t add much to the cost of the entire election.

But really? We are living in a time where we struggle with high prices and witness our friends gripe and moan when they reach for a dozen eggs at Hannaford's market. It begs the question: Is this a good use of taxpayer money? Really?

And the answer is (here insert a drum roll) does anyone care?

It all began when the 1909 Maine Legislature had some extra time on their hands and adopted “Old Blue.”

Here is what they adopted. It is a flag with a blue background and a shield featuring a moose (and no squirrel) resting under a tall pine tree. There are two male figures, a seaman and a farmer, to show the state's reliance on the sea and the land. There is a star, the North Star, of course, that represents the state motto, Dirigo.

They tell us Dirigo is Latin for I lead. I can't swear to it as I have not used Latin since I was an altar boy, some 70 years ago.

In case you care, North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) conducted a survey in 2001 that ranked Maine's current flag as one of the worst in design.

NAVA was founded in 1967 by a Harvard student who was a flag nerd. But that is another story for another time. Another flag fan from Washington County bugged the legislature to switch out “Old Blue” for an earlier version adopted in 1901.

But here is a problem. If you favor the new/old version of the state flag, you are embracing the “C” word: Change. And we all know how many of our friends detest that word.

Remember how our friends turned out to protest the way the Maine Health mothership folded our little local St. Andrews Hospital into Miles Memorial in Damariscotta?

How about the great uproar over the building of a roundabout in beautiful downtown Boothbay? More than a few local golfers are still ticked off when they were priced out of the game when a new owner spent a ton rescuing a failing local course.

And, for Pete's sake, don’t mention the idea of offshore windmills when you are within swatting distance of a lobster fisherman.

Change is a word that is verboten to many a Maine voter.

But, despite that, I’ll bet the new flag design will be adopted.

Why? It is just kind of cool looking.

Best of all, lots of them are being made in Maine by Maine folks. And that is reason enough. 

See you at the polls on Tuesday.