I don't have to work until this afternoon, so I walked the mile to my Arlington, Virginia polling place at 9:20 am. The line snaked around the little elementary school and it was a full hour before I got in front of the voting booths.
When I got in there, I saw a white guy (note: I'm also a white guy) in a khaki suit, with a big "poll watcher" button on his label. He sort of stared blankly at the crowd (mostly white and Hispanic) and flipped through some papers. Then I got to the desk where I hand in my registration card. I turn over my Virginia card, which came in the mail mid-September.
And they challenged my registration.
"OK, there is an H by your name," the woman at the desk said. "So we need to see another form of ID."
I had gotten a mailer saying exactly the opposite a few weeks ago. I need ONE piece of ID - my card. Before I said anything, the other woman at the desk said I was okay with my one card.
The first woman opened her registry and found my name. Then she asked me what my address was. Then my apartment number. I gave her all this, then I said "I don't think voters need anything besides a card. You should check your laws again."
Already steamed, I stepped up to the voting queue. When I got to the booth, lo and behold - a WinVote device. The election monitor punched his card into the machine. I asked him, "Can I get a printout after I vote?"
"No," he said. "There's no printout."
And my ballot was in front of me. I uneasily waved my finger over Kerry/Edwards to make sure I hit it, then hit it. I voted Democrat for congress, because the Republican challenger supports the Iraq war.
And then there was the rest of my ballot. I had planned to vote GOP for the rest of the ticket, and vote against the ballot measures.
But I didn't. I pulled a crumpled "sample ballot" I'd gotten from Democrats outside from my pocket. Then I punched every candidate for nonpartisan office they recommended. Then I punched YES on every ballot measure, included the ones to raise taxes.
The Republicans drove me to this. They chose to spend four years not fixing the vote problems across America. They chose to send rich white kids, who looked just like me, to threaten black voters - all while openly talking about how they would win over black votes with this gay marriage amendment.
Well, fuck you all. Fuck George Bush's Republican party. You've made me question the intregity of my country's laws, and you've done it with a smile. I've done my part to make you bastards go down in flames.