The Official "I Voted!" Thread

[angus]

I voted on the way to work.  Ice on the windshield Tuesday morning.  Cold as a witches tit.  Well, not Midwest cold, but cold.  I arrived at Blossom Hill Mennonite Church, about seven blocks from my house, and parked in a surprisingly empty parking lot a few minutes after 9 o'clock.  I walked around to the back of the church and found a much bigger parking lot, full of cars.  Okay, so I'll know next time.   

As I walked toward the back door, I noticed lots of signs and several booths manned by party types.  I guess Pennsylvania doesn't have strict laws about heavy-duty electioneering at the door of the polling place.  There was a table for Pitts, a table for O'Brien, and a big table with a long wooden sign behind it instructing voters how to vote a straight Democratic ticket and stating in very large font that "YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO SHOW ID." 

I opened the outer door, then the inner door, and found, to my delight, that there was a table with fresh coffee, tea, apples, cinnamon buns, and other tasty treats.  Two very old ladies sat behind the table and invited me to partake of the snacks.  I told them what a delightful surprise it was.  After getting myself a large cup of black coffee and declining the food I walked into the big hall.  It was some sort of cafeteria at the church.  One of the first things I noticed was a large man wearing a "POLL WATCHER" badge.  I don't know whether he was from that NGO mentioned on this forum, but he wasn't really paying attention to anything.  He was walking around, gesturing a bit with hands, and talking furiously but quietly to himself, with his eyes closed.  Maybe he was practicing a speech.  I tried to spark up a conversation with him.  "The coffee was a nice touch."  "Oh, yes, it was, especially on such a cold day."  “yeah, we had ice on the windows this morning.”  That sort of thing.  As I approached the table where the ballots were, he went back to his idiosyncracies.

At the table, I was asked my name.  I gave it and the woman found my name in the book.  She then asked me for a photo ID.  (I noticed that some folks were asked for ID, and others were not.  I showed her my driver's license.  She wrote something down, had me sign the book, and gave me a ballot.)  I noticed that the ballot was in Spanish and English, and had two sides.  It was the sort that you fill in little boxes with a "black or blue ink" pen.  I noticed that about 8 people were voting at that time.  I took my ballot over to one of the many little booths they had set up, those flimsy little portable booths with privacy shields.  I looked around and noticed a big table not being used for anything and though, "to hell with this.  I'm going to sit down over there and stretch out on that table to vote.  I don't put much stock in privacy, but I put a great deal of stock in comfort."  So I walked over to that big table, pulled out a chair, took off my coat, scarf, gloves, and backpack, and got the ballot and started to read it.  I guess I started a trend, because soon thereafter many had joined me at the big table, opting for comfort over privacy.  Those flimsy portable voting tables are for the birds, man.

For President, we had the choices of Romney, Obama, Stein, Johnson, and write-in.  I voted for Romney.  For Senate, we had three choices plus write in.  I voted for the Libertarian.  For US House, we had a Democrat, a Republican (incumbent), a BCG party guy (rightist, author of “Free Market Manifesto”), and an independent (this one was very socialist, a real worker’s candidate.)  I voted for the leftist independent for that office.  Name of John Murphy.   There was also state senate, state rep, state auditor general, state attorney general, and some other stuff.   Candidates only.  No referenda.  No questions. 

Afterward, I sauntered over to the electronic reader.  They had given us manilla folders to conceal the ballot, but I kept mine in plain view so that all could see my vote.  Bastards.  Yeah, I voted for Mitt.  What's it to ya?  The frail octagenarian manning the electronic reader instructed me to detach the stub (Stub Number 259482) at the perforation and keep that.  It was a good thing too, because as I was getting into the car I managed to spill some hot coffee on my jacket and didn't have any napkins.  The stub worked nicely in a pinch to absorb the coffee.

On the way out I noticed a black guy arguing with the Democrat guy at his "YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SHOW AN ID" booth.  They were arguing about unions.  The black dude was very anti-.  I thought that was unusual.  Speaking of black people, there weren't many.  There were just the anti-union guy outside and one very tall, very attractive black woman in tight-fitting garments who was leaving at the same time I was.  I had gotten a second cup of coffee (and an apple) at the snack table after voting, and was on the way out and held the first door open for her.  She turned around to offer me a very gracious thank you and a beautiful smile and caught me staring at her round, muscular ass.  She seemed amused and said, "well, now I'll hold the second door open for you."  I thanked her and tried to come up with something clever to say but couldn't.  Anyway, by that time my interests had been piqued by the guys in front arguing over unions.

Overall, voting in Pennsylvania was a nice experience.  Apparently the snack table is a common thing here.  I was listening to public radio on the way to work as I usually do--yes, I know how terrible it is.  "The world is a terrible place and there's nothing you can do about it."  Still, I like the news--and they were doing a voting day show.  Lots of callers.  Lots of mentions of tension when folks refused to show an ID.  Also, lots of mentions of the coffee/snack tables.   

One thing that they don't do here is give you an "I Voted" sticker for your lapel.  At least not at my polling place.  To be honest, I'd rather have a good cup of coffee and an apple than a lapel sticker, so I'm not complaining.