I Voted Today!
(Along with tens of millions of other Americans) I voted today, and it was hands down the most significant ballot I have ever cast. Of course I voted the straight Democratic ticket, which in my area involved making only three choices, for the Obama-Biden ticket, and for the U.S. Senate, M. Warner, and for member of the House, T. Perriello.
It was a cool, drizzly morning, and I got there a little before nine, thinking I would catch a slow spot between the early morning rush of people voting before going to work, and the lunch hour. But there was a line of about 40 people, which wound out of the small building that serves as the civic center of that small town, Shipman, and for a little while we in the tail end had to stand in the precipitation. But it was entirely too exciting a time for anybody to really take notice of that. And the line moved briskly enough, and soon my voting was over and done with.
My neighbor across the road, K., is a poll worker, as my wife will be, starting at 12, and he told me that he got there at 5:30 in the morning but the line then was already as long as the one I was in, and another person said that this line was one of the shortest of the day so far. You have to understand that around here we are used to breezing in with hardly anyone ahead of us.
Despite the reputation I have for never getting out anymore, I knew three of the people manning -- or rather womanning -- the sign-in tables, and two of the ladies were sitting right next to each other. But unlike in all previous times, there was absolutely no time today for chit-chat of any kind, and all I could think of to say after they greeted me was, "Hey! I know both of you!" As always, though the polling place had what appeared to be the grand total of one touch-screen machine, I used the paper ballot, which is widely recommended to avoid, as much as possible, the numerous horror stories of voting malfeasance that are heard of being perpetrated to suppress the Democratic vote around the country.
I was voter No. 401. The last time I voted, in the primaries at about the same time of day a few months ago, I was only 31. At that rate, our small rural precinct will rack up a total count well up into the thousands -- completely dwarfed, however, by the huge number of much more populated areas all across the country, where the various voting scenes must be interesting indeed!
Well, that concludes the first part of this nationally nerve-wracking day. Now to wait for the tallies to come in, which figures to be the part that will really test our psychological constitutions.
I don't normally do much praying. I figure that ordinarily I shouldn't be asking for help from such a powerful hand, and, as in the case of sports contests, to do that is often on the unfair, selfish, unthinking side. But in special instances I do make a few silent requests to any celestial all-powerful being that might happen to be up "there" listening, and it's hard to think of many cases that would be more special than this election. It is a case of choosing between sheer life and death in many ways.
It was a cool, drizzly morning, and I got there a little before nine, thinking I would catch a slow spot between the early morning rush of people voting before going to work, and the lunch hour. But there was a line of about 40 people, which wound out of the small building that serves as the civic center of that small town, Shipman, and for a little while we in the tail end had to stand in the precipitation. But it was entirely too exciting a time for anybody to really take notice of that. And the line moved briskly enough, and soon my voting was over and done with.
My neighbor across the road, K., is a poll worker, as my wife will be, starting at 12, and he told me that he got there at 5:30 in the morning but the line then was already as long as the one I was in, and another person said that this line was one of the shortest of the day so far. You have to understand that around here we are used to breezing in with hardly anyone ahead of us.
Despite the reputation I have for never getting out anymore, I knew three of the people manning -- or rather womanning -- the sign-in tables, and two of the ladies were sitting right next to each other. But unlike in all previous times, there was absolutely no time today for chit-chat of any kind, and all I could think of to say after they greeted me was, "Hey! I know both of you!" As always, though the polling place had what appeared to be the grand total of one touch-screen machine, I used the paper ballot, which is widely recommended to avoid, as much as possible, the numerous horror stories of voting malfeasance that are heard of being perpetrated to suppress the Democratic vote around the country.
I was voter No. 401. The last time I voted, in the primaries at about the same time of day a few months ago, I was only 31. At that rate, our small rural precinct will rack up a total count well up into the thousands -- completely dwarfed, however, by the huge number of much more populated areas all across the country, where the various voting scenes must be interesting indeed!
Well, that concludes the first part of this nationally nerve-wracking day. Now to wait for the tallies to come in, which figures to be the part that will really test our psychological constitutions.
I don't normally do much praying. I figure that ordinarily I shouldn't be asking for help from such a powerful hand, and, as in the case of sports contests, to do that is often on the unfair, selfish, unthinking side. But in special instances I do make a few silent requests to any celestial all-powerful being that might happen to be up "there" listening, and it's hard to think of many cases that would be more special than this election. It is a case of choosing between sheer life and death in many ways.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 10:24 AM
4 Comments:
I was at my voting place a few minutes after 7 and there was already a line. I have never waited in line before.
Hopefully America will win this election!
Obama '08
My God, it's a blow out! An unmitigated blowout.
I never thought I'd see the day an African American would ever be elected as President of the United States.
It is a great day in the history of our country.
Hi, Lady! You will look at the electoral map and you will notice that we both pulled our states, alone, so far, of the former Confederacy, up into the blue and a more heartening future. Good for you!
Hi, Rook! Your commenting system worked against me hassling you by saying that you had two missions, the first to send Bachmann out and the second to bring Franken in. But now it looks as if neither one will happen. Too bad. Those two contests interested me more than any others, except of course for the Obama race. But then what your state does has always interested me, because usually it is otherwise such a progressive state -- plus not too long ago they shot up Jesse James and his gang badly when they came way up from Missouri and tried to rob one of your banks. You remember that.
Naw, I don't remember Jesse and his gang coming to Minnesota, I'm too young. Long before I was born. As to Franken, well, there's the recount. And Bachmann? She's a model of the citizenry of that particular section of the Twin Cities.
Oh, and I ended up deleting all the registrations for my site when I completely wiped my old MT installation. You'll need to re-register to be able to comment.
Post a Comment
<< Home