So I know I had to wait in line for about 50 minutes this morning, but then my voting went smoothly. Waiting in line was quite enjoyable- it was clear the majority was in favor of Obama. Granted, I was voting in Bed-Sty and was one of maybe 4 other non-African Americans in the line. I learned that when the voting opened this morning, the line did indeed wrap around the block, though it was shorter upon my arrival.
How have your experiences been? Fortunately the voting machine did not break one person ahead of me like it did for the primaries.
I was very excited afterward; I paused to appreciate the magnitude of what I had just done. A stranger on the subway platform seemed to identify that we were having similar feelings and struck up a friendly conversation about the momentous occasion. How unusual!
Obama announced he would run on February 10, 2007. That's 19 months of campaigning. Everyone should pause as they cast their ballot- it's the end of a long journey, and as we are all glued to 538 or RCP or CNN throughout the day, let's hope it's the real beginning of...change we can believe in.
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"Two Hours after Eight Years"
ReplyDeleteIt was difficult at times to keep spirits up. Our warm front ended rather rudely this morning, and at 5:30 AM, half an hour before the polls opened, I was the 168th person in line at my polling place. I voted at 8:45 AM. Nonetheless, there were attempts to keep people motivated, with one guy offering the above argument, which the crowd took well. Now I'm going to sleep.
I'm changing my registration next election - absentee voting just doesn't have the same feel. Then again, being able to sit there with my ballot in front of my computer and look up information about small races and ballot measures definitely made me a more thoughtful and informed voter...
ReplyDeleteCarly- The people in line with you were black, though anyone (including the non-blacks) in line with you could have been African-American.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I had a decent experience. I waited for 45 minutes this morning only to realize it would be at least that long again before I voted. I had to head in to work, so I left. This afternoon I was able to vote in about 20 minutes.
I feel that this 1906 quote from Theodore Roosevelt (pirated from The Assault on Reason by Al Gore) sums up my opinion of the Bush administration while summarizing some of my hopes for an Obama administration: "Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day."