Exercisin' My Right: Part I

Election Day started early for me; Maria, Marky Marky and I met at 7:30 in the lobby of our building so we could vote before I had to be to work at 9:00. Marky Mark was giddy like a school kid to vote, and to be honest I was pretty excited, too. Voting feels different here in New York than it does in either Idaho or Utah, where I have previously voted. For one, the political make-up is much different, with New York being a liberal Democratic state to the conservative Republicans of Idaho and Utah. For two, the population is much different; my neighborhood and voting place was made up largely of Hispanics and African-Americans, giving the whole thing a completely different vibe.

So we all walked to our extremely convenient polling station one block away. In fact, we can see it from out kitchen window. I was so excited that I brought my camera to mark the event. It just felt so historic that I wanted to document it visually. For all the talk of the historic-ness of it all, we were expecting a longer wait. We were in and out in about twenty minutes. But some people I work with waited in line for hours, and said they had lines out the street.

It was a little crazy inside, not completely organized, but it went smoothly and the poll workers seemed to really know what they were doing (a lot of them I recognized from voting on Super Tuesday). I entered the voting booth, pulled the lever to start the process, and took part in the election process. Maria took this picture of me in the booth.

It was exciting, and Maria snapped this picture of me as I walked out of the booth.


I just wish I had gotten a sticker to mark the occasion. That's always the best part about voting (well, maybe not the best part but at least a cool part). When I pulled the lever back to cast my votes I really think that the machine should then spurt out a sticker that says, "I Voted!", or at least something that verifies my vote!

Leaving the polling place, I felt exhilarated and thrilled to be a part of something so historic. I'm glad that I was a part of change.