Today's the day!

[Blueberry]

I voted early. Here's hoping everyone who wants to gets to cast their ballot.

Whispered response to avoid offending those who were offended by other "mentions" of the election. e.g. the fact that there are too many political ads.

[Pax]

Good job CA, I had to hit "quote" to read your response.

[Andrea]

I early voted & let my students out of class early today so that they could go vote!

[OakLeaf]

Two civic duties done today!

Jury duty - sorta. Just showed up, watched the introductory video and waited around for a few minutes. Turns out it was a criminal case and they reached a plea agreement - the jury pool just had to stick around until the plea hearing was over "just in case." Nothing else on the docket for the rest of the week, so we were discharged.

(Of course I left my jacket in jury room... well, it's just a light one - that can be a nice 40 mile RT on the bici tomorrow to pick it up.)

And voted on the way back. I know I said I was going to vote absentee, but just never got around to it. At least I could still get a paper ballot at the polling place... FWIW.

[andtckrtoo]

I'm heading out now to vote! I hold to the notion that if you don't vote, you can't complain, so I make sure I get out there every election! :P

A bit of trivia - Ever wonder why we vote on the first Tuesday in November? I just heard this on the news and thought it was interesting. November was picked because it is after the crops are in and before the roads are impassible in the winter. It’s on a Tuesday because in the olden days people had to travel miles to vote – often to the nearest town. Sunday was a day of rest and no one would travel, so Monday was the traveling day. People would arrive to their destinations late Monday, vote Tuesday and head back. So if anyone asks you why we vote on the first Tuesday in November – there ya have it!

Edited to add - voting done! No lines at 10AM. I walked in, voted, got my little sticker, and walked out - I was gone a total of 20 minutes from work.

SKHILL - WONDERFUL story! Thanks for sharing!

[Pax]

... November was picked because it is after the crops are in and before the roads are impassible in the winter. It’s on a Tuesday because in the olden days people had to travel miles to vote – often to the nearest town. Sunday was a day of rest and no one would travel, so Monday was the traveling day. People would arrive to their destinations late Monday, vote Tuesday and head back. So if anyone asks you why we vote on the first Tuesday in November – there ya have it!

Kinda puts that whole standing in line thing into perspective. We've got it pretty darn god these days.

[ACG]

My daughter is voting for the first time ever today.

So I am not voting until she gets home from college. She wants to keep her sample ballot and put it in her baby book. She is very excited. She watched all the debates, watched all the public TV shows, any other special she could watch. Read every article from every angle. She looked up information on all the other ballot issues too.

I told her I don't need to know how she votes just that she did.

A side note: Mom watched all the SNL shows.

[skhill]

I voted this morning-- what a wonderful experience. I live in a predominantly African-American precinct, and before today my longest wait to vote was ~10 minutes. Today, it took 1.5 hours (and the line was as long when I left as when I got there). The coolest thing: whenever an elderly person or disabled person showed up, the line by common acclamation sent them to the front. One of my fellow waiting voters told one extremely elderly lady "you've waited long enough for this day-- you go on ahead." And then, when that lady came out, leaning on her cane, there was a little tear rolling down her cheek. What a powerful moment to be a part of....

It was also pretty cool seeing the garbage truck pull up and one of the crew hop off the back and get it the line to vote!

[Pax]

I voted this morning-- what a wonderful experience. I live in a predominantly African-American precinct, and before today my longest wait to vote was ~10 minutes. Today, it took 1.5 hours (and the line was as long when I left as when I got there). The coolest thing: whenever an elderly person or disabled person showed up, the line by common acclamation sent them to the front. One of my fellow waiting voters told one extremely elderly lady "you've waited long enough for this day-- you go on ahead." And then, when that lady came out, leaning on her cane, there was a little tear rolling down her cheek. What a powerful moment to be a part of....

It was also pretty cool seeing the garbage truck pull up and one of the crew hop off the back and get it the line to vote!

What a neat story!! Thanks so much for sharing it.

[OakLeaf]

One of my fellow waiting voters told one extremely elderly lady "you've waited long enough for this day-- you go on ahead." And then, when that lady came out, leaning on her cane, there was a little tear rolling down her cheek.

Wow, that made me all misty-eyed. Thanks for sharing that.

[alpinerabbit]

I voted this morning-- what a wonderful experience. I live in a predominantly African-American precinct, and before today my longest wait to vote was ~10 minutes. Today, it took 1.5 hours (and the line was as long when I left as when I got there). The coolest thing: whenever an elderly person or disabled person showed up, the line by common acclamation sent them to the front. One of my fellow waiting voters told one extremely elderly lady "you've waited long enough for this day-- you go on ahead." And then, when that lady came out, leaning on her cane, there was a little tear rolling down her cheek. What a powerful moment to be a part of....

Not many things bring me to tears.