Long lines be damned! This morning, I waited nearly 2 hours to vote. The line in the parking lot was probably 150 feet long. Once I got inside the polling location (a grade school gym), I found the line inside to be nearly as long!

This marks the third Presidential election that I have voted it, and each has been in a different state. I was surprised to see how archaic the process and equipment is here. The Nixion era 'tabulator' - the only elctro-mechanical part of the process - broke down as I waited in line to hand my ballot in. Fail. Once they cleared the jam, we were up and running crawling again.

Here is what I was pleased to see this morning while voting:


The Long Lines - Yeah, that's right. Long lines are not necessarily just a symptom of an antiquated process or inadequite staffing. It can be a sign of high voter turnout, which is something I am glad to see.

Friends and Neighbors - You don't always realize who lives in your neigborhood, and the one that you do know about, you don't always get to see. I saw no less than eight people that I know while voting this morning. Half of which I didn't know lived in my neighborhood (our polling locations comprises a pretty well-defined area of town, and not a very large one at that).

Young People Voting - Every election I have voted in was supposed to be the one the finally brings out the young voters. During which, every geezer candidate though he was really connecting with this saught after demographic (they didn't have a clue). But each year, the exit poling showed a different story. Will this be the year? I dunno. I think it has a better chance than previous. Young Americans need to be voting.

Determination - During my time in line, I didn't see one person bail out. Not one person approached the line and turned away. Listening to the chatter around me, people were engaged. They weren't doing this on a whim, or because someone said they should. They wanted to be there. They wanted to have their voice heard. This was important.


One Last Thing:
The Mrs. once had a young co-worker who was straight out of college. He was an intelligent, capable young man. One day, they were discussing politics and the upcoming election. He expressed his lack of desire to bother going out to the polls, despite his lack of satisfaction in the govenment's direction and choices. The Mrs. put things in prespective for him. "So, do you have the same opinions as your grandparents on these issues?" "No way", he replied. "Well guess what? I guarantee you that come election day, they will be voting." The gears started turning then....

The bottom line is: VOTE! If you don't vote, then you don't get to complain. Your vote counts as much as anyone elses.

Now, with a little luck, we may know who our new President-Elect is before the night is out!

How did you do? Are you lucky enough to live in a state with early voting? (Early voting rocks BTW)