I had a very South Florida day yesterday. This because it was Election Day, and in relation to my striving to vote.
Leading into yesterday, early voting here had been taking a long time for most people. A friend of mine waited in line for 6.5 hours on Sunday to vote; another an hour or so. The prolonged wait time due to the large number of people voting, the number of items on the ballot and the somewhat archaic bubble-sheets being used (supposedly because the computers used during the primaries earlier this year were too difficult for some to use).
I had decided a month or so ago to vote after work on Election Day, figuring that was the best time for me to do so as it offered me the most time to be at the poll. An itching to get my vote over-and-done with (and possibly in small part to have my "I voted" sticker on my shirt all day), however, spurred me to decide on Monday to try to vote prior to work. So, I got out my door a wee bit earlier than normal, and headed to my precinct's voting location, arriving at 6:45 a.m. for the 7:00 a.m. opening. 50 people were already in line.
45 minutes later, my previously determined time-to-leave-the-polls to get to work if I wasn't near voting arrived, with not a real sign of anyone having emerged from voting (i.e. there were still about 30 people in front of me in line). So, at 7:30 I headed to work, and left a friend a few places back of me in line with instructions to let me know how long the line took.
At work, I relayed the crazy line to my coworkers, some of whom had managed to vote that morning (one got in line at 6:00 a.m.). Faced with this, I began to plot to take lunch early, hoping that at 11:00 I'd be able to catch the polls before any lunch crowd. After a rather cramped freeway dash back to my precinct, I arrived to find the line to vote the same length. As it had taken me 20 minutes to get there, and my friend had relayed that it took her an hour and 40 minutes to get through the line early, I did a drive through of the parking lot, and headed back to the office, grabbing lunch on the way back.
Resigned to be heading to polls, post work, I left work shortly after 5:00, and made a bee-line for my precinct. As I approached my neighborhood, I was thankful for the seemingly lighter-than-normal traffic, and half-heartedly cursed the pesky stoplights that paused my journey to the elementary school where I vote.
Coming on the school, my nervousness heightened that the line remained. The back-side of the school showed an abundance of cars, which made me fear the main parking area on the other side being full. As I continued down the block and around the school, I anticipated seeing a full parking lot. I was pleasantly surprised, however, upon its sight to see the lot practically vacant. However, I still remained diligent in my advancement, a twinge of fear in my head that before I could get there, and as I watched, a flood of cars would enter the parking lot and with it a full-line's worth of fellow voters.
However, this did not materialized, and instead, I reached the lot and found a space without a new car in sight. Upon exiting my car, and hastened toward the school's library, bracing to find a line. Continuing forward, through the school's doors and down the corridor to the library, I encountered only a poll worker, idling around due to the lack of persons to help direct.
And, in course, I walked straight up to the check-in desk, and after holding up myself from finished by relating my astonishment at there being no line, picked up my 4-pages of bubble sheets and was steered toward a booth. Setting down Of Human Bondage that I had brought to read, I pulled out the "crib" sheet I had made to guide me through the various items and filled out my ballot.
About 5 minutes later, I had filled in all the necessary circles, fed the tabulating machine the four pages, beat my neighboring booth's occupant to completion, and picked up my sticker.
I guess the third time really was the charm... well, except for the fact that the sticker I got said "My Vote Counted" (which brought back memories of my last trip to the polls, for the Florida primary earlier this year, where my vote didn't really count--thank you very much national Democratic party); and my curiosity of whether/not people vote after work here....
Y empieza a cantar
Mi canta así, así...
Bidi bidi bom bom
Bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bidi bom bom
