Early voting

My state is one that has "open" early voting (meaning, you do not have some kind of reason to vote early - it is not like absentee balloting).

I decided to vote early, because I figured the polling places would be tremendously busy on Tuesday.

If early voting is any indication, there's going to be record turnout here. I waited in line for just over an hour to vote early.

For early voting in my county, you go down to the county election board building. It is a low-slung, older building in a quiet residential neighborhood. The building looks almost as if it could have once been a doctor's or dentist's office; there are a number of small rooms off of the main hall.

There was already a line when I got there. It seemed kind of long but I figured, well, I have nothing else I need to do this afternoon - nowhere else I need to be. So I just waited.

One woman came out, waved the novel she was carrying, and said, "I got an hour of reading time in!" Some people in line kind of gasped (it didn't look that long outside the building).

So I reached into my bag and pulled out the sock I was knitting on. I had been to some off-campus meetings earlier in the day and it was one of those situations where I was dependent on someone else to drive, so I figured it was best to plan ahead in case there was downtime. (I also tend to take some kind of small, time-occupying thing to do anyway when I travel on the university vans; they are unreliable enough that I could envision being stuck for a goodly number of hours at the meetings while we waited on an alternator repair or something).

So anyway - I had my sock, I can knit just fine while standing (they're just simple, all-stockinette ones; I don't have any fancy cabled or lace ones going right now, which is just fine).

The line moved slowly. I glanced apprehensively at a few hornets circulating around (we're in Indian Summer here - it's been cold, now it's warm again, and that always brings the stinging insects).

One of the Election Board workers came out and handed those of us "new" people clipboards with forms that we needed to fill out and sign, certifying our addresses and that we had neither voted in an absentee ballot nor would we try to vote on Tuesday. I filled mine out, handed him the clipboard and pen back, tucked the form in my bag (pulling out my driver's license and sticking it in my pocket in case they needed I.D.), and started knitting again.

I'm sometimes a little apprehensive about what some knitters call KIP (knitting in public); I don't like drawing attention to myself. But I figured I'd wait much more happily with something to pass the time, and I tend not to be the talkative sort.

A few people commented that I was "smart" to bring something to do.

The line kept moving, slowly. Sample ballots were posted next to the door in but I just barely glanced at one; I had seen one earlier and taken the time to read up on the different candidates and issues so I knew how I wanted to vote.

I finally moved into the building. An older lady, who had hip or knee issues, was sitting on one of the chairs they had set up. She saw me knitting and watched for a few minutes, then commented to me in wonder that I could knit without even looking at it. (Yeah, I suppose that's a skill not everyone has. I've trained myself to do it because I sometimes knit while I proctor exams, and I also knit while I read sometimes.)

The line kept moving (there was a row of chairs so the lady could keep moving with her "spot" in the line.)

The building, though it was kind of warm to stand around it (it was an older building and I don't think it had central A/C), was kind of nice. They had it decorated for fall/Halloween with garlands of silk fall leaves and tiny orange lights.

One thing I have to say - NO ONE in the line complained. NO ONE got angry. No one tried to line-jump. No one seemed to care that it was taking a while to get in to vote. People chatted quietly - once in a while it would turn out a couple people near each other in line had some connection, either their families used to be neighbors, or one person taught at the school that another person had recently retired from. So there was a lot of the friendly sort of small-town small talk that happens. Talk about the weather, talk about the local high school football team, talk about jobs and traffic and new businesses in town. Reminiscences of how things used to be.

And I felt kind of happy standing there. It was almost a Norman Rockwell moment - all these people out to do their civic duty and exercise their right as citizens. And everyone was so pleasant. I don't often just get out into the community - the campus is, as I said, kind of a place apart and we tend to be a little hothouse (and sometimes that's not the best of things). So it made me happy to be there, it reminded me I'm a citizen of this town and I have things in common with the other citizens.

And the line kept slowly moving.

There were maps on the wall of my town and my county, showing it divided up different ways - into the different districts, into the different townships and ranges. I looked at each map and mentally located where my house is. That's a funny little quirk I have...almost a bit of a Rain Man behavior; I always like to look where my house would "be" on a map of the area. There is something I find comforting about it.

The line kept moving. And then we saw why it was a little slow - instead of using the voter-roll books like they usually use (where you sign next to your name), there was one person looking each voter up on a computer to verify them. So OK. That was the hangup.

But I was very close.

I finally got up to the woman (and, heh, the "computer" was one of those old, old IBM clones (I think it was even a Zenith, like one of the first computers I learned on) with that green-on-black screen). But she found me in the rolls, filled out the rest of the sheet, and the woman next to her tore off one of the big paper ballots (we use optically scanned ballots, which work really well), and handed me a marker and pointed me to one of the booths.

So yay, I voted. As I said, I had already checked out a sample ballot and done some reading so I knew who and what I wanted to vote for, so it didn't take me too long.

So I turned in my ballot and got my sticker.

And you know? It's still important to me. This is, I think, the sixth Presidential election I've voted in. I still feel like it's something important and special and grown-up to do, even if I'm not super super enthusiastic about the people I have as choices.

I remember as a child, my parents taking me with them to the library or the local school or where-ever it was that they voted (and of course, most years, I was IN school when they voted). But it seemed like one of the Mysteries of Grown-Up-Hood, being able to help choose the President or the Senator or whoever. And I still kind of remember that now. While there are some things about being a grown up that kind of suck (paying taxes, making your own dentist appointments and then going to them) there are also some thing that are frankly pretty cool. And I regard being able to vote as being in that class of Pretty Cool things. (And really, Pretty Cool is very much an understatement of how I feel about it...)