in 2008 (and 2004,) I made the mistake of getting up early at 6am or so to get to my polling place - I have since learned my lesson and now stay home till 10am to give the guys going to work time to do their thing....today was amazing - I wish you could all have had the gift I had of an easy, fair, and fast voting process
I live 5 blocks from the school where we vote, so I just sneakered it down - no line outside the door - a very short line of 2 people ahead of me in the line for folks whose last names start from A-E -
get a receipt, get a ballot (big paper - optical scanner) - and go to the booth -
scribble in the ovals just like a High School Standardized test, and wait in line to run it into the feeder, (which I guess has been having some problems in Minneapolis today, but it still has my paper copy to be counted later - woot!)
then I'm out - I walked in and out in 10 min - it took me longer to walk 5 blocks to the polling place then it did to vote
I consider voting the sacrament of Democracy - I am so disgusted with Ohio's Secretary of State and the shit he tried to pull (and is still trying) - I'm disgusted with the stories I'm hearing of ballots not showing up in Florida - I'm sympathetic and admire those in NY/NJ who are voting by flashlight with portable generators - I stand in solidarity with those who have to wait hours in line because Republican Governors chose to under staff the polling places of districts with high Minority or Democratic turnout.
I wish you could have all had the experience I had - I hope our one blessing is that all the hard work you have done up to this point gives you the same sense of joy and satisfaction I had in casting my vote for President Obama, and especially my NO vote on the Marriage Amendment and Voter ID amendment that Republicans have pushed on us in this state
not to get religious on you all today, but we have fought the good fight, and we have kept the faith - we run for the prize at the end and it's in sight - good luck at the polls today, and God Bless America
RB