I Voted

This is what I did on my afternoon break yesterday.

In my development was a location to early vote. (senior center)
I originally had a mail-in ballot but with all the shit going on I felt I wanted to be sure my vote was counted and I was going to do this in person. I was not putting it in any box. I was not driving 45 minutes away to stand in line to hand it in at the gov't office you must do that at. I wanted to see the green light accept my ballot so I knew it was counted. 

BUT because I had a mail-in ballot I had to contact my county gov't to get a letter stating I lost it (even though they knew it was not lost) and I was voting in person. As I checked in with my voter ID card and license I handed them the letter. This man scolded me like a child. "You know you can't vote again don't you?" He was upset with me and I didn't understand his anger.

He was probably 70ish and an attractive man when he smiled. 

But after he said hello and smiled he was not a happy man with me.

 I finally said, "Joe (he had a name tag) I have been voting since I was 18 I think I understand what you are saying, we are okay. I will not be voting twice! I know that is wrong. I promise to only vote once."
But he just kept telling me to only vote once. I know Joe! geez.

The line when I pulled in was long. I saw the long line of cars and thought this is going to take forever but if it is like this today imagine the 3rd of November. So I parked and got in line. It moved surprisingly quick.

They give you a clean booth. Then when you are done you leave the pen on the table. That lets the person cleaning/sanitizing to know the pen needs to be cleaned as does the table for the next person. They had a system down. 

There was a young girl that someone announced, "First time voter"  

Everyone turns to look. So this is what Rick was talking about.

The young girl was adorable and she was so excited so everyone was helping her. 

She voted and put her ballot in the machine waiting for the green light.

She was next to my table. Once it turned green she put up both of her arms overhead (like a touchdown) and everyone in the place applauded. 

She turned around and with her arms still in the air she says, "Go Joe" and smiles. Everyone laughed and off she went.

Now I know this just happened to Rick and when he told me I thought it was so cool. But to see this girl's excitement was a picture I needed to see. To remember how important this all is to do. Not just the stress of it.

I recall the first election that I paid attention to. I was in the 11th grade and McGovern was running against Nixon. In our psychology class, we discussed the election and then we had debates. We were so off our normal psychology class topics but the teacher took us to the election. 

I was all involved. We had to do so much research and we were put in groups. Remember research without the internet? 

One group had to support Nixon and one had to support McGovern. 

After all this, I couldn't even vote. I felt more informed than my parents at this point and so wanted to vote. Half the class was old enough because it was a mix of juniors and seniors, but sadly I couldn't vote yet.

So my first presidential vote was the following election with Gerald Ford & Jimmy Carter.

Even with all my moves around the country over my lifetime I always made sure I could vote. I also found it interesting to see all the different ways each state votes.

In PA you get these booths with a curtain and a lever you push/pull

In Seattle, it was paper as it is here. I don't recall Ohio when living there.

I never voted when I lived in Maryland, I wasn't there long enough. But when I got here I admit I was shocked that it was paper because so much tech here I thought for sure it would be more advanced.

Why don't we have a national method of voting? Too logical I suppose.

So if you can vote early I surely would encourage it so you aren't waiting online for hours. I was in and out of there in 15 - minutes from parking to leaving. Not bad.

Get your vote on!