Lord have mercy! It took me two hours and ten minutes to vote this afternoon. But you know… it was worth it. It was exciting to be surrounded by so many people who were exercising their rights.
Of course, my wait was lengthened because of a broken machine, confused volunteers, and the fact that half of Brooklyn apparently lives in my district. But still, it was worth it.
In line I read David McCullough’s biography of John Adams. It wasn’t a political gesture or anything. I just happen to be reading that book right now. But it still felt appropriate.
I also got to know Amber, my neighbor from two doors down, and Ryan, who lives around the corner. Together, we made lots of jokes about how they should serve you lunch after your first hour.
And then finally, I cast my vote. It felt great to vote for Obama, because no candidate has ever inspired me to be this hopeful.
What was your voting experience like? Did you vote early? Did you have a long wait or no wait at all? Spill those beans!
10 responses so far ↓
1 Julie J. Van Valkenburg // Nov 4, 2008 at 4:53 pm
When Obama first came on the scene, I thought, “What a breath of fresh air.” From his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention to the day two weeks ago when I cast my early vote for him, my hopes have risen exponentially that a candidate of his caliber, of his integrity and intelligence, could become President of our country. Right now, I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting to watch the returns as they sweep East to West, and hoping, hoping. Go O!
2 AV // Nov 4, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I got to the polls early (I _meant_ to get up at six, but didn’t) because I figured there would be a line out the door and around the corner. Nope. There were four or five people in front of me, and we voted on paper (in Oakland, it had always been touch-screen) and then got to put our own ballots through the scanning machine. All in all, it was pretty uneventful and my wait was under ten minutes.
I didn’t see any international observers, though, which bothers me: I want the UN on this, especially in places with touchscreens!
3 Jen Shaw // Nov 4, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Voting was really rather anticlimactic. I wanted angels singing, bells ringing–at least the physical satisfaction of pulling a lever or punching some holes in paper! Alas, I bubbled in my vote with a marker and wondered if it was all a dirty trick, giving me a marker and not the traditional #2 pencil. Not to mention my anxiety over how terribly EASY it was to vote: I gave my address, my last name, and showed a utility bill with my name on it as proof of ID. Yet for the GREs I had to be fingerprinted and show 2 proofs of ID! Guess that just shows how much our votes are really worth, considering we still have the Electoral College…
4 LB // Nov 4, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I got yelled at by a cranky old lady because I’ve never used those archaic voting machines with the giant lever. Apparently, taking longer than 30 seconds to vote when 1 person is waiting is CRIMINAL.
5 Sam Thielman // Nov 4, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I couldn’t for the life of me find the button to vote on Proposition 1, but other than that, everything went smoothly. I listened to “Sweeney Todd” in line, Mark (Cerveris/Lupone), which also felt oddly appropriate.
6 Marcy Wallabout // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Couldn’t have been faster or easier in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn at 6PM.
Same place this morning was an entirely different story…
7 amanda // Nov 4, 2008 at 10:23 pm
So, I worked the polls in my precinct today. I live in an overwhelmingly red state (TN), but my neighborhood is quite diverse, spanning million dollar houses and homes where a power bill hasn’t been paid in a while. It’s also almost equally split between black and white voters. Working the polls was a wonderful experience, despite my occasional confusion (see “confused volunteers” in Mark’s post).
We saw voters in their 90s, people who woke up and drove to the police station to try to find out where to vote, a transgendered voter who had been told that any transgendered individual would be turned away (we got him taken care of, don’t worry!), people on oxygen, in wheelchairs, on walkers, canes, crutches, people bringing friends, kids, and grandparents, and first time voters in droves. Fantastic.
When I arrived at 7, there were 30 people in line. Our polls opened at 8.
As with Mark’s experience, I got to know some of my neighbors as well. My partner was a retired lady whom I taught to text message during a slow few minutes. Other poll worker neighbors were exchanging recipes and gardening tips. One of our machine operators is an expert on election history and made a crockpot full of vegan chili for everyone. It was heartwarming and made me realize I’ve been underestimating my neighborhood, and maybe even my relentlessly Republican state.
But best of all, Obama carried our little East TN precinct by a margin of 30%.
8 Christy Baker // Nov 4, 2008 at 11:51 pm
My voting experience was two weeks ago… I did early voting in Tennessee.
You know, it’s increasingly frustrating to live in this state where I never, EVER am part of the majority in the electoral votes.
But what’s even more frustrating than that is the fact that most of the people I talk to that are McCain supporters can’t really tell me WHY.
Seriously?
Is it because you know nothing about your candidate?
Or maybe because you’re a little bit racist (or a lot) and are afraid I will judge you for it?
Or perhaps… a little of both?
At any rate, I’m glad the rest of the country seems to have it right.
At least, the states with more electoral votes!
Seriously, though… I am completely awestruck to see this happening. In the grand scheme of things, 40 years is not a long period of time to pass. But just 40 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
And baby, look how far we’ve come!
So, cheers to all! And… GOBAMA!
9 Emily // Nov 5, 2008 at 1:04 am
I got out the door at 9am, and to the rec center six blocks from my house (in Arlington VA), and there were two or three people ahead of me. It took me ten minutes, and I chose to use a paper ballot.
10 Will // Nov 7, 2008 at 12:50 am
I went in the middle of the day and was only in line for about ten minutes, but my polling location was in a Catholic church with an enormous anti-abortion lawn display out front. That really put me in the mood.
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