So, I was walking past my polling place this morning, which for all practical purposes is in my back yard aka my children’s elementary school. It was maybe 10 minutes after the polls opened at seven. I took this pic (wondering if I was violating some kind of rule or something).

As I continued on my walk a poll worker opened the door… Oh no… What did I do wrong? Well, nothing of course. He called out a cheery “Good morning!” I returned his greeting and, realizing he thought I might be a voter, explained that I had voted a few weeks ago. I then asked him how many customers he’d had so far. He formed a zero with his thumb and index finger and said he thought maybe I would be his first.

I think this was an outcome of absentee voting for everyone for any reason. I almost told him the GG would be over a little later (and he was). In truth, I was wavering a bit about reminding the GG it was an election day because the GG and I live in a house divided. In the end, my conscious conscience got the better of me and I reminded him, although I doubt he actually needed a reminder from me. He was voter 29 at I dunno, nine-something.

I also told the poll worker that pre-you-know-what, I used to always try to be the first voter, at least in the little elections. I was in a silent contest with Mr. Mxyzptlk, a guy who always arrived on his bicycle and usually beat me out for number one voter. In fact, whenever I was first, I would kinda wonder where he was…

I never tried to be first for presidential elections or primaries. Too many people. The last time I voted in person was the 2020 Michigan primary. It was March 10 and covid was looming. I got there before the polls opened and was something like six or eight in line. I remember talking to my line neighbors all the while wondering if we were three feet apart (a few days later it was six, both numbers arbitrary and meaningless in my opinion). Two days later I was sent home to telecommute for what has turned out to be forever.

At this point, I am not afraid to vote in person because of covid. It’s just so easy to fill out a ballot at leisure and drop it into the box at like 7:00 AM when there’s no traffic. I will vote in person again though. Friends of mine worked the polls today and I miss them.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2024 at 7:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.