I voted this morning. Contrary to reports from media outlets and co-workers in the office, I had a very short eight person line. I did, however, witness something interesting and touching. An African American family ahead of me finished voting and took pictures of each other. The oldest member of the family, an elderly husband, posed for the last photograph supported by his wife on one side and a wooden cane on the other. They were smiling and laughing. I've never seen anyone so joyful about voting. As a one time student of history I can appreciate probably only a tiny fraction of how much it means to that African American family to be able to vote for a viable African American candidate. How much that elderly couple lived through. And how much that elderly couple might have never believed that today's vote was ever possible. I'm a suburban bred white girl who is not necessarily voting the way they are, but it still moves me to see how much this morning moved them.So tell me about your voting experience. What happened? How long was your line? See anything good? What kind of ballot did you use? Were you working the polls? Did you not vote? Share in the comments.
8 comments:
How do you know who they voted for?
I have no real story, but I'll tell you anyway. My line was about 30 people and didn't take long at all. We had computer touch screens, so it literally took seconds to do. I voted at the church right down the street from my house (where you turn left at the intersection when you're coming off 90). There were much bigger crowds there this morning and over the lunch hour (as I was leaving), and I've heard that record setting turnout is expected.
Reports from people in the office who are voting in DC suburbs of Maryland and Virginia as well as the District itself are of two to three hour lines.
I went to my polling place early, expecting a long line. I even took a book to read. I was sort of disappointed when I barely got the chance to read it.
Unlike lucky Sister T, I had to wait to vote, however, only an hour and 15 minutes this time around instead of the 3.5 hour debacle from 4 years ago in Ballston (Arlington), VA. I have several stories, several funny and one touching. I'll start with the touching story, showing the kindness that you rarely see in D.C. nowadays (or maybe just in my neck of the woods with the mostly RUDE college students)…Anywhose… I was in the final stretch in the line to reach the front door of my polling place and I saw an elderly gentleman walking very slowly, with the aid of his cane, to the back of building to join the line. When I reached the front of the line I turned around (because I was bored of staring at the same person in front of me after more than an hour) and saw that some kind people had let this older gentleman in front of the line, thereby negating a more than an hour wait for him. Not only had this young man let the older gentleman join him in line, he and several others had entered the polling place to assist this older gentleman in assuring that his name was on the voter registration and that he would be able to vote in that precinct. The young man obviously wasn't able to obtain that information, but did find an election worker that was willing to check for the older gentlemen. In fact, the election worker instructed the older gentleman to go ahead and enter the polling place through the handicapped or disabled entrance (not that he was, just so he didn't have to stay standing up in line so long). I just thought it was very nice of these young people to let the older gentleman join them at the front of the line and go into the polling place to assist him. Did any of that even make sense with all of the various versions of "him" and "he" ?
Okay, my funny stories…
I was, again, waiting in the front of the line, this is where all the good stuff finally happened, and some foreign tourist has his camera out and is taking pictures of all of the Americans standing in line to vote. At the time this seemed hilarious to those standing in line, but doesn't seem so funny now that I'm typing it…maybe just had to be there…
My other story is based on the fact that I'm an idiot… I sign in, sign my yellow piece of paper with my name on it, and go over to the table with the actual ballots and am asked "How would you like to vote?" I looked at them like they were idiots, what the heck did they mean how would I like to vote? After my very verbose "Huh?", I received an equally idiotic look from the very polite election lady asking if I would like a paper ballot or would like to vote electronically. (Funny, I didn't even know I had a choice. This is why they instruct you to read those little voter books they send in the mail a week or so before elections so the idiots like me don't hold up the line asking those dumb questions "Huh?" ) Any whose.. my response was "I don't care, which is easier or less busy for you?" I handed over my yellow slip of paper to the woman in charge of the electronic "cards" to vote on the machine and she looked at me and said "I hope I do this right" (Note to self, maybe I should have asked for a paper ballot at this point…) I was then herded over to the ONE only ONE electronic voting machine because no one else was using this (Again, I'm now thinking that maybe this should have told me something…) As I was voting on the electronic machine, that was obviously made for dummies like me because it is very easy to use, I discovered that D.C. can vote for a Senator, really? I've never even heard of any of those people! I mean Eleanor Holmes Norton in the House, yes of I've heard of, but a fake Senator who can't vote in Congress either, news to me. Note, refer to my above reference about reading the voting manual sent by the D.C. government the week before the elections to inform me of all of my voting choices. Anyways, seeing as I hadn't studied up on the Ward member, City Council Member, Board Member, School Board members, etc. I only voted for President and our fake representative to Congress after repeating (like 5 times) assuring the machine that yes, I do understand that I left the majority of the ballot blank, but to please cast my vote for the two elections I did feel like participating in.
Happy Election Day everyone!!!
Well, I voted in the 730a crowd so when I got to my polling place there was a line - of course we did have 3 precincts in the same location - but out of the 3 polling places that I have used in Los Angeles, it is the most organized and efficient so the long line wasn't bad at all. Those that arrived at 8a didn't have much of a line at all.
As a CA voter, we get a book to go over the pros & cons of all our multiple propositions at every level (state, county, city). This means we have a long list of items to vote for or against every election. There are some major proposition this time which were actually causing more commotion here than the presidential race. CA is a pretty solid blue state.
I voted on Friday, the last day of early voting in Texas. I waited about 30 min at the Arlington sub-annex courthouse in our 4 block downtown metropolis. I've never seen such a mixed bag of people voting - mothers with their kids, families who apparently had carpooled to voting, couples, and a lot of minorities (Arlington is now a minority-majority city so this isn't surprising, except for the fact that I never see any lines at the voting locations so I've never been able to survey my fellow voters). I was the only person there in business attire at 1:30pm, and it was nice to see so many people taking time out of their Friday afternoon to vote.
Something that angered me - stupid Jerry Jones has brought many new "bond proposals" to me as a taxpayer, which I voted against. Millions of dollars for drainage fees for the extra run-off created by Jerry's stadium, road improvements for Jerry's rich season ticket holders, park improvements so that we won't be embarrassed for years of missed opportunities to beautify our city which is suddenly a priority. Bah-humbug on the Cowboys for sucking up our tax dollars!
I was number 405 and Ann was number 409 voter in our Township. I was told that this was the highest number of people that they have had for a long time. Sister T's name is still listed in PA and we requested that it be removed since she is in MD! We served lunch to anyone who wanted to eat and socialize with friends in the Township building. Sandwich, soup, verity of sweets, and drink for $3.00 a very good bargain. I saw several Amish women with a"few kids" with them coming to vote. I was told that they never miss the chance to vote, it is an outing for them. Most Amish men vote after 5:30 PM when the work is done in the field or their shops. They generally vote conservative. So, we had our lunch, socialized with neighbors and friend also voted. Where can you exercise your constitutional duty and have all these other benefits, but New Wilmington,PA.
I too rushed off this morning with some reading in my bag. Good to be prepared, ya know. Despite reports of machine malfunctions, electrical "problems," and election officials running late at various sites around the city, my voting experience took about 30 seconds.
When I arrived at the voting location, there was a huge line out the door. Lucky for me they have my district divided in two and this long line was for the other district. There was no one in front of me voting or behind me in line. I live in the slacker district, I guess.
I think my "I Voted" sticker has provided me with some sort of election good luck today. I got pulled over for speeding on my way to Cincinnati today and instead of giving me a ticket, he just waived me on (at least I think so; hopefully, there's no warrant out for me).
My voting experience was pretty normal, although I was shocked (SHOCKED, I tell you!) that upon walking in, collegiate sweatshirt on, right after walking the dog, there was no line. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch. (And why do the preponderance of words of this type begin with Z? Sidenote.) Okay, so no one was in line, I joked around with the voting officials, comparing efficiency levels at various jobs, and cast my vote. It was exciting and I even did a much-subdued version of the "Vote vote vote like a stoat/You can vote however you like," dance that I'd been doing all day, encouraging co-workers to vote. It was a fun day, with one co-worker even joining into several renditions of the "Election Day dance." We've decided that we should never choreograph. So, that's my most recent voting story! yay! Now don't forget to vote when it's not just about the President!!
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