Went to vote this morning at 7:30 AM in Arlington. Didn't get to vote until 9:30 AM. (There were only six electronic voting machines for a line that was at least 300 people deep.) But it was worth the wait. No obvious signs of voter intimidation or fraud that I could see; everyone had their ID's and voter cards ready and waiting, only a handful had to vote on provisional ballots. Aside from the long lines, a pretty good experience. It got so bad they were asking people who had finished with their newspapers to pass them around. So I got to read the entire Washington Post, the front section of the Washington Times, and the Wall Street Journal Op-Ed page by the time I got to vote.
Aside from President and Congressman, there were choices for County Board, School Board, two Virginia state constitutional amendments (one about clarifying the effect of decennial redistricting on Virginia's off-year election system, the other adding additional poeple to the line of sucession after Governor), and four bond issues.
Most of the poll workers were about my age, which was surprising. The Kerry-Edwards people were all young women of college-age, bubbling with enthusiasm. (Arlington County is heavily Democratic.) There were, however, three Bush-Cheney workers: two nice middle-aged ladies, and a burly 40-ish man with a sticker that said "Democrats for Bush." (!) The ladies complimented me on my tie (red, with tiny little elephants on it. Yeah, I'm subtle.) I asked the ladies for a Bush/Cheney sticker. They gave me one, then asked "want the whole sheet to take to your workplace with you?"
"Not where I work," I joked. (At my workplace, only myself, my boss, and his secretary are known Republicans.) We chatted a bit about Bush's chances, and went our merry way.
Now this is how an election is supposed to work. No intimidation, no threats, no yelling, done as efficiently as possible. Democracy in action, folks... treasure it.
Posted by Thief at November 2, 2004 01:21 PM