I voted this morning. Felt good to fill in the little circle next to Barack Obama's name, as well as other Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. But I felt even better about the group of people I voted with.
I live in Plainfield, Illlinois, a town of about 40,000 about 35 miles southwest of Chicago. I have only lived here for a little over a year, but from what I see it is a leaning-Republican type of suburb. I went to the Village Hall this morning to cast my ballot. I handed the administrator my license and was told to sit in a small conference room with 5 other people. It was a 6-seat table so there was no more room for anyone else. The 6 in the room:
A man with a cane and his wife: Probably around age 60. Both dressed in jeans.
Myself: 33-year-old accountant wearing black slacks and a gray button down work shirt.
Two African-American women: Probably in their 40s. Talking about how one of their relatives received a HOPE scholarship down in Georgia.
Man in a baseball cap: Probably late-30s. Working class written all over him. Drove away in his working van that had a logo for a communications company, very possibly a small business.
I just found it fascinating that the table had the diversity of America written all over it. 3 men, women. 2 retirees / near retirees, 4 presumably still working. 4 Caucasian, 2 African-American.
But here is the part that made me smile. They passed out the paper ballots and I found my eyes wondering around the small table. I'm ashamed to admit but I snuck a peek at all of the other 5 ballots. All 6 people at the table voted for President Obama.
I found it oddly self-reassuring, and I thought it was just neat to see people from different backgrounds and most likely different life views to all vote for the President.
Again, it's Plainfield, Illinois. It's not going to make a hill of beans difference in the electoral college. And I will continue to search for overanalyze every election poll that comes out in the next 2 weeks.
But on this rainy dreary morning in Plainfield, I felt more "American" than I ever have.