Last night as I fell asleep watching the SNL Presidential Bash, I had full intentions of going to vote on my lunch break today. However, when I woke up, I could barely contain my excitement and had to go vote immediately.
I largely support early voting. I can only imagine the logistical nightmare that could have been if all polling places had to field the full brunt of turnout today. That said, I’m very familiar with the historically relatively low turnout at my polling place, so I felt OK waiting. As great and as efficient as early voting can be, I’m not willing to give up the community and excitement of voting on election day.
This morning was even better than I could have expected. Here are some highlights.
- 55 minutes from start to finish. I’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes in this location before, but compared to the 1.5-2hrs I’ve been hearing about elsewhere, I felt pretty good about this.
- I made two new friends in line. Very nice people with interesting stories. One was a first time Memphis voter; the other a repeat offender and active community leader. I’m glad I know more of my neighbors.
- The two male volunteers checking IDs and registration were beautifully the opposite of stereotypes. A 20-year-old Republican and an 85-year-old Democrat.
- The only potentially sketchy activity going on was the woman passing around her printout that explained the 9 different referendums on the ballot. She was only trying to be helpful, but I’m about 95% certain these “explanations” were coming from a liberal organization. This probably qualifies as propaganda and therefore not exactly legal. I don’t think she meant anything by it though; she was just trying to help. Just shows that we need to be careful sometimes about when, where, and how we help.
- Everyone I’ve encountered so far today has been in a great mood. Here’s hoping that holds out right?
Anything fun happen when you voted?
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On a related note, I believe I’ve come up with a good drinking game for tonite. It’s not too crazy, but could definitely get there.
Of states that Bush won in 2004, take 1 shot for every state won by Obama.
The best numbers I can find put this at as many as 6 likely, potentially more… or less.