It’s 5:44 a.m. and the polls open in just 16 minutes. I’m getting ready to walk over to my polling place. It’s an honor and a privilege to vote. One year I was so excited about voting that I accidentally colored in the wrong circle for the presidential candidate! I caused a ruckus with the voting folks who weren’t immediately sure what to do with me! Okay, gotta run …
Now it’s 6:23 a.m. I’ve returned from voting. Voting was as exciting as ever. I don’t know why it always gives me chills and makes me feel proud, but it does.
At our polling place we had electronic and paper ballots. Sadly, the electronic wasn’t ready to go so I received a paper ballot, the kind where you fill in the arrow next to your candidate. First up was the presidential candidate. I can tell you that I checked it over and over again to make sure I was filling in the arrow for my candidate. Again, very exciting. When done with the form, I marched over to the thing-a-ma-jig that sucks your ballot into a safe and secure metal box. The digital counter read: 01. I was the first person of my district/ward to cast a ballot today.
My last words: Get out there and vote today.
"She wrote the way she lived: on the fly, without retrospect, always on the way, climbing higher."
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello. I’ve been reading your blog since I heard your interview on NPR. I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading it. My aunt was a nun, but I didn’t know her well. (We lived 5,000 miles apart and only saw each other a handful of times.) It’s nice for me hear about your day to day life, makes me feel closer to her.
I voted and almost got teary voting for the presidential candidate! Pride.
The first time I voted I was the first voter in the first district of our state. I love that…
Couple of reasons why I vote: lots of people in the world don’t get to or die trying to; for all the rhetoric on TV and the ads and the almost impossibility of getting away from it - at the very least we have peaceful elections and a violence free transfer of power. If hearing about the elections for a year gives me that, I am willing to change the channel and ignore it to avoid the violence that Kenya has; I am a firm believer in “if you don’t vote, don’t complain” and goodness knows, I want to reserve my right to complain!
This is an election for the ages… 10 or 15 years ago, having front-runner, truly legitimate Presidential candidates who are not old white men seemed like it was far, far away. I am relieved that this barrier has been bent if not broken. Whether you agree with or like Obama or Clinton, it is a sign of hope that they are in the process they are. We’ve come a long way, baby… and have a long way yet to go…
Many thanks, Alicia!
And ditto to everything you wrote, Elizabeth. Excellent!
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