very simple

I thought I’d write about my vote experience this morning. I’m in New York, so it’s not like there was a lot of tension, given that we had no poll watchers or lawyers (except for those of us waiting to vote).

Anyway, I got to the line at about 8:45 in the morning, and outside the building there appeared to be between 75-100 people waiting. A couple of people walk by marveling at the fact that the line wraps around the block. At about 9:30-9:45 I start to get a little nervous, as I should already be at work, and the people coming out of the building, who I can finally see, are not the people at the front of the "outside" line when I got there – in other words, there’s another line inside. I finally get to the inside line at about 10-10:15, and this is where I find out that one of the two machines "tasked" to Gramercy Park is broken, meaning that we’re all voting on one measly machine. The poll workers have not been given a break yet (polls opened at 6am), and there’s no one to relieve them. There are only two poll workers – one to take names and one to operate the antiquated lever machine that New York will NEVER get rid of. Once you give your name, you have to get in the other line to actually vote.

The 90 year old man operating the machine keeps getting up to condescendingly "explain" the alphabet to the younger african-american woman taking names – she knows what she’s doing, it’s just that the guy in front of me doesn’t appear on the list (although his wife did, so everyone just assumes it’s a mistake), so the vote machine line is piling up while the old man keeps forgetting that he needs to set it for each voter, and the sign-in line is now stuck because the poor guy in front of me has to get the "lesson" on how to fill out the provisional ballot.

So, I finally got to work at about 11:30am today, after first stopping off for a pit stop at home again and finding out that my new iPod arrived, weeks early.

At this point, it seems like Kerry’s leading pretty strongly in the exit polls, but it’s still early. I’m starting to feel pretty good, but I don’t want to jinx it.

Tags: politics and law