Every vote counts - My early voting experience
Yesterday I voted early in Broward County. It was quite an experience. The early voting polls were extended this weekend by Governor Charlie Crist for 12 hours for the weekend. It was strange that Palm Beach County early voting polls were only opened from 10-2 on Sunday, and Broward County early voting polls were opened 10-4pm. Therefore, I left the house at 9:15 am and arrived at the polls at 9:30 am. To my amazement, everyone else was thinking the same thing. The early voting lines were wrapped around two blocks. I grimaced and thought to myself do I come back or do I wait it out with The hundreds of people in line? I chose the latter and am very happy that I did. It was quite an experience. I met three wonderful people (a teacher, an audio engineer and attorney) that helped me pass the time away. I was equally impressed that two were in the 18-29 year old demo. One was a male middle school teacher and one was a female audio engineer.
I made it very clear to these two outstanding young people how impressed I was with their dedication and commitment to early voting. Emily, the audio engineer, told me that this was her second polling place that she had visited that morning. The other poll was at Broward College and was longer than the Pompano Beach public library. She had a family day planned to watch a football game with her family that kicked off at 1pm. Several of us were taking bets on when we would get into the building, Emily took 12pm, I took 1pm and another woman took 2pm. Unfortunately, I did not win the bet, but then again, none of us won. However, it did not matter, we all had fun and were making history by standing in the heat, with hundreds of other people waiting in line to cast our vote for our candidate.
Unfortunately, the early voting day did not go on without an incident. There was actually an auto accident involving a pedestrian. Yes, several hundred people witnessed an elderly woman in a car hit an elderly pedestrian in line waiting to vote. It was quite a scene. All of a sudden, we heard someone scream "she's been hit". People start running from the lines to see what has transpired. Being 6'1, I did not have to move that far, since I could see everything. Suddenly the police came, the fire rescue, the fire truck, and an unmarked police car. One of my new early voting friends, Linda, a Defense Attorney, agreed that this woman would only get money for her injury, if she was hurt. However, it was good that the injured pedestrian called the police and acquired an accident report, It is always important to get a police report for injuries involving a car and to exchange contact information between all parties.
Now back to my early voting experience. To my amazement, there were mostly Democratic supporters at the polls passing at literature. I saw only the Republican Senator Jeff Atwater's campaigners passing out literature on the Republican side. The Obama Campaign had massive volunteers passing out Crystal Springs water in Publix reusable shopping bags. I must add that they only handed out water and did not solicit for Obama. They had Obama, hats and pins on, so you could not miss the fact that they were with the Obama Campaign for Change as they were passing out water to people. I could not help but wonder where were the McCain Palin supporters? I was there several hours and did not see anyone out there for John McCain and Sarah Palin handing out waters to the die hards standing in line for hours waiting to cast their vote. I do not know if this will make a difference in the outcome of the election, but it did stand out in the minds of my three new early voting friends, the teacher, audio engineer, and the attorney.
By 1pm, we were very close to the front door. We all phoned our friends and family and told them that we were still in line waiting to go in to vote. It was not until 2:15pm, that we stepped foot into the Pompano Beach Public Library. However, Amy, the staffer from the Supervisor of Elections informed us that all 38 of us, would go in, take a seat and wait a little while longer before we could go into the back to cast our vote. We sat down and waited in the center of the library for about 15 min. The Librarian made a pitch for the Library's services. And then the entertainment came, two staffers from the Supervisor of Elections Office, were so funny, when they explained how to fill in the paper ballot. I wish that I could have taped it, because they were funny, telling tales of how people could not shade in the oval circles. There was one incident, where an elderly gentleman came up to them after he submitted his ballot and asked where is the ballot for voting for President? The staffer explained that after a ballot is submitted into the polling machine, it can't be changed. Once a ballot is submitted, it is official, there is no going back.
As I stood at the voting booth filling out my four page ballot, I knew that my one vote could make a difference. My standing in the heat for several hours was not in vain. I walked over to the finish line, placed my yellow folder on the table and the Senior staffer, walked me over to the machine to submit my ballot. One by one, I submitted all four pages. When I was finished, I was handed an I voted sticker. I took one extra, so that I could wear it on Tuesday, the actual Election Day...
I put on my I voted sticker and walked out of the building, at 3pm o Sunday, the line was still long. I told the people standing near the door, that they were almost there. Only a few more steps and they would be in the nice Air conditioned building. I smiled to myself and thought, I have made a difference. I voted for my candidate. I am also thankful that we have early voting in Florida and excellent poll workers, both paid and volunteers.
Now the question is Have you voted? If you did not, you have one more day... Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 4, 2008. I implore you, to make a difference and let your voice be heard. Vote, on Tuesday, November 4 at your designated polling place. We know one thing for certain that on Wednesday, November 5th either we will have a new President. It will either be John McCain or Barack Obama, President of the United States of America.
Have you voted for your Presidential Candidate?
