My voting experience

I woke up this morning at about 5:45 AM, as opposed to my usual 6:45 AM. I got up, showered and got ready. I kissed my still-sleeping husband, made sure to grab my book, and headed out the door. I got to our polling location about a minute later. It's a teeny tiny itty bitty church with a parking lot about the size of a postage stamp. Luckily, I got there in plenty of time to park in the actual parking lot, as opposed to parking a street over like some people had to do.

I went inside with my book and stood there for about 15 minutes, reading and eavesdropping on some people who live near each other while they gossiped about other neighbors. (Apparently a young woman is marrying her boyfriend who is a cop. Pass it on!)

Eventually, the time turned to 7 AM and the line started moving forward. I ended up being 12th to vote. And then I was 26th when I ACTUALLY voted, since I screwed up my first ballot by making a mark where I wasn't supposed to. Oops.

In front of me in the "oops!" line was a guy who said his name wasn't on any of the lists for that polling location. Once one of the volunteers made a call, he said, "Did you move out of state in March?"

The guy just looked at him like he was crazy.

Apparently he is no longer registered to vote in Michigan because he moved out of state...without actually moving or knowing about it.

Neat trick, eh?

I don't know if they ever got it straightened out, but I do know that I felt much better for compulsively checking the voter registration thing to make sure I was still on it.

Standing there, waiting for a new ballot, I apologized to the guy who would have been next in line. "Sorry...I just make trouble wherever I go!" I said. He just laughed and told me it was no problem.

Eventually I figured out what I was doing and successfully voted. I then grabbed my "I voted!" sticker, and was on my way to work, secure in the knowledge that I would at least be cancelling out my officemate's vote. It's up to other people to cancel out the other 18 or so Republican votes that will be coming from my office.

I seriously need a new job. I feel like a leper whenever politics is mentioned here.

*sigh*

But, at least after tonight/tomorrow/next week/whenever the lawsuits die down and it's official, it'll be over. No more political commercials. No more political talk at work. (That's a bit of wishful thinking, I know.) No more worrying about whether our nation is going down the tubes or not. It either will or it won't. At least I've done what I can to have a say in my future.

If you haven't yet, please go out and vote. If you don't vote, you have no right to bitch about anything political in the future.