I know lots of people have shared on this topic, but I don't care. Tonight I went to cast my absentee vote in downtown Brooklyn for Barack Obama, and I am feeling lighter than air. I quadruple checked the circle to make sure I'd filled it all the way in. I've never been so nervous about voting before and about getting it right!
I had to vote absentee because I am a lawyer who lives in New York, but I am doing election protection in Pennsylvania on election day. The Brooklyn Board of Elections office wasn't the wild early voting scene you've heard about other places, because you have to have a good reason to vote absentee in NY (which is very stupid), so it was mellow. But voting absentee this year made me think about the last year I voted absentee for a presidential election, which was in 2000...
In 2000, I was an ABC News Producer - before I went to law school - and I was going to be out of town on election in North Carolina's Fort Bragg doing a piece on the 82nd Airborne Division. At that time, I was a liberal but not an activist. Living in New York, with Clinton as President, there was no apparent right wing enemy to fight. It was inconceivable to me that Bush would win and Gore would lose. Gore had given the commencement address at my college graduation (NYU). Gore was the guy.
Cut to election day 2000. I spent election day 2000 shooting paratroopers jumping out of a C-17 over Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base, then later shooting a different group of paratroopers come down on the dropzone in night vision. Amazing shoot. Great stuff. Totally forgot all about the election. I have video of myself in jump gear; it was that kind of 20 hour day. At one point, at the end of the day, the jumpmaster - a total character with a fairly thick southern accent who had been sheparding us around all day -- came up to me and my crew and asked us if were red or blue. Just like that. I had no idea what he meant. My mind was on my job completely. He repeated the question, then finally got to his point. He asked us what states we lived in. I said New York, and my camera crew replied 'North Carolina' as they were all local. He was royally pissed, because - as he told us - Gore had just won the election. He also told me Hillary Clinton had won the New York Senate seat, and he seemed kind of pissed about that too. I played it cool and casual, as he walked away, but, after he left, my crew and I exchanged congratulations, since they were democrats. But, looking back, it didn't REALLY mean as much to me, because it was what I expected all along. Of course, history told a different horror story.
Now, I know we've all had the talk around here about not getting soft, and lots of people around here have been working themselves to the bone. But absentee voting this time made me think about the last time, and the good news is how far we have come. Because, this time I did more than just vote. Because on Saturday, I'm going to Philadelphia to canvass for the fourth time. And on election day, I'll be part of the lawyer brigade preventing voter suppression. And in case anyone out there still wants to get involved and hasn't, there is still time.