by ~ANTToday is the day to vote, November 4th, 2008. Sure there is early voting in many states and 24.4 million people have cast their ballots. If I can vote on November 4th? I do. I get so amped, so excited, so anxious... I find it hard to work, focus, and "maintain". Election day fills me with a red, white, and blue patriotic pride. It goes beyond Democrats, Republicans, Independents, issues, propositions, and politics. Voting effects my wallet, my friends wallets, and a heck of a lot of purses!
And this time around... it's big! Way more fun than usual. At almost 40 years old, I've now voted in numerous elections with quite a few different machines . Turning levers, filling in circles like a Scan-Tron test from high school, touch-screens, and one time using a tool to punch out squares in a card similar to the Florida and the Hanging Chad incident. I can see why there were problems... I did it and had the same problem. (After punching my card I carefully removed all the "Hanging Chads" to make sure my vote counted)
I've seen quite a few systems, I've seen a lot of empty polling places, and I've seen a lot of white people...
My district is Toledo, Ohio - Lucas County, 15B. We have Whites, Blacks, Hispanic, and a smattering of other cultures. When I've gone to the polls the last few years, it has always been slow, and many of our communities cultures were not well represented. To me, that was always disappointing. I was making big decisions with my vote. In Toledo we call them "Issues" and sometimes I knew that not many people were actually voting... only a couple thousand. That simply meant my vote counted... a lot.
Today was a different story. I felt the vote I cast was may more important that usual. I am sooooo excited! My good friend Ann and I went to vote around 10:30am and upon arriving at our polling location, saw a lot more cars in the parking lot. This made us both comment and smile at what we were seeing. As we were walking up to the door, there were two fellows in front of us who I thought were "newbies" and that peaked my curiosity!
On a quick note: There have always been signs in front of the polling place promoting issues and politicians. Ann and I found it strange that their were four Obama signs and no McCain signs. Hmmmm.
I don't think it was just me... the excitement was palatable. The polling place was steady, not too busy. The short lines were being taken care of quickly with everyone full of smiles and being patient.
What struck me were the two "newbies" that walked in just before us. It turns out one of the fellows was a new, but the other fellow was there to help walk him through the process. This wrinkle surprised the election officials, however everyone was patient to make sure the correct paperwork was signed and this man could vote.
The look in the man's eyes was just like a deer caught in headlights. He didn't want to do anything wrong... he just wanted to vote. This was incredibly cool to witness. These gentleman moved off to the side as they filled out some paperwork getting ready to vote using the paper ballot method. Reading the newbie's eyes, this man and his energy... he quickly was calmed knowing he was going to be able to vote. As much nervousness as I felt emanating from him he knew his vote was going to happen. It was inevitable... he was going to vote and make a difference.
I chose to use the computer touch screen. I can't say it's the easiest machine in the world to use and it's definitely not user friendly. The colors are all wrong. I'm allowed to say that... I'm a successful artist and build websites that are user-friendly. Check it out for yourself... click here for an example.
The touch screen was an example of overload. There were no margins around the objects and no explanations of anything. With no "white space" or margins around the objects the display was hard to read with the background colors of pastel yellow and pastel blue. Ann and I helped a lady next to us having trouble. She had already picked her choice, but wondered what to do with the "write-in" area for president. Since she had made her choice we directed her to the next screen. She was glad for the help and didn't care if we saw who she was voting for. She just wanted to make sure her vote counted.
Sure... I had issues with the computer system and ease of use, however with helping a lady vote, and seeing a first time voter make his mark, and then later talking with my neighbor about his first experience ever voting... Including seeing another neighbor at our polling place voting as well... What I great experience. There were more people voting and the cultures our our south side of Toledo neighborhood were much better represented at our polling place than I have ever seen.
I can't wait to see poll numbers and to get the action started. I want to know who wins and we are hours away!
I'm glad I voted and through my experience I'm filled with American pride... red, white, and blue patriotic pride!
Great post about where you can all sort of election coverage links from CNET.com
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10081981-38.html?tag=nl.e703
Keep up-to-date on the 2008 election with Google Maps! The whole nation, state-by-state, and/or county by county results in real-time:
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/elections/#2008_election
Makin' it GREAT in 2008
