If I have walked this hall once, I have walked it a thousand times.
The strategy was that I would leave at about my regular 0-skunk-30 walk time and circle the school / polling place until a line began to form, join the queue, and text the GG. The short of it is that, when I arrived at 6:25 AM, a line had already formed. I was the 11th person. Shuggy’s parents were 12 and 13 and the GG ended up being about 16.
It was a convivial crowd and it’s always fun to talk to Shuggy’s parents so the time passed quickly. The last time I voted in person (last spring), I was the first voter and the volunteers fumbled a bit with the process. Which sticker goes where? There was *new* technology today: a *laptop* and a little thingy that scanned my driver’s license. I imagine that there were probably glitches related to this new technology here and there but it worked like a charm for me and I was shooed off to a voting station by The Beautiful Jackie with her 1000-watt smile. Our ballot was *huge* but I had done my homework and I’m a “fast” person when filling out forms in general and an expert at filling in little circles so, although I was the 11th voter, my ballot was the 4th to be sucked up by the ballot-eater.
So, no glitches (except that I managed to lose my “I voted” sticker before I even got out of the school — some second-grader will no doubt be wearing it tomorrow) and I was left to walk down the back hall of Haisley School for about the 1012th time. And then I was home and a huge wave of psychological exhaustion overtook me. It’s done and life will go on no matter who “wins” and I had to get to work but I am kind of “done” with a big prodject (intentionally misspelled) there too. I have stuff to do but it’s pickity ancillary stuff and I struggled the entire day to find a good work rhythm. I just could not get enthused.
If you voted today, I hope your experience was as smooth as mine. I am envious of all you early voters but I had a good time voting in person today. I hope I can stand to watch the results tonight.
November 6th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Smooth for us, too. I miss the paper ballots and the ballot box. In that nostalgia way; I’m all for better systems (which really are better).
November 6th, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Love you Sam.
November 6th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
I miss voting in person, but the mail in ballots are pretty slick too. It helps out with our situation here…and many have similar issues, so I’m glad that WA has this system. 🙂
November 7th, 2012 at 7:25 am
I’m all for the new systems. Missouri has two, optiscan paper ballots and touch screen computers. At the Board of Election Commission they have one of the old school voting machines. You know, the kind with the curtain that closed behind you, and the mechanical levers that you turned down to vote? I remember going in one of those with my Mom when I was little, but I can’t for the life of me remember what kind of system I used the first time I voted. Any one else remember?
November 7th, 2012 at 9:00 am
It took me an hour to vote last night. Less time than 4 years ago, but a different precinct and that was in the morning. A chilly but sunny morning as I remember. I was bundled up to stand outside. And last night someone in line brought a box of cookies to pass around – yay! I was voter 1,021 in my precinct. I voted absentee my first time, back in 1980. But after that was back in A2 and got to vote in the big ka-chunk machines with curtains. I loved that – felt like I really had VOTED. Lsat night the woman manning the scanner asked if I wanted to feed my ballot in. No thanks – I’ve done it before. Let’s just get my vote counted and I’ll go home and make dinner.
November 7th, 2012 at 9:21 am
I used the ka-chunk machines for at least the first few years I voted at Haisley.
November 7th, 2012 at 6:15 pm
@kayak woman I remember going in those ka-chunk machines with you when I was little!!
November 7th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Was I wearing my clip-clop shoes?