Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Election Day

It takes effort to vote. I've never missed an opportunity to vote, but some days it just takes more effort. Not that it's hard. It just takes some doing to get there. Like today.

For one thing, it's raining.

Two, Daniel still has a touch of diarrhea and had to have a full bath before we could leave.

Three, it's raining.

Four, I had to locate my voter registration card - which wasn't exactly where I thought it was.

Five, neither child could understand how going with Mommy to vote could be more fun than watching Clifford on tv.

Six, Daniel has not exactly mastered the 'stand right here next to Mommy and don't move' rule. So he has to be strapped into the stroller when I go in to vote.

Seven, Did I mention it was raining?

We managed to survive it all. :) The trickiest part was trying to keep the stroller dry while I got Daniel out of the car. Oh and pushing the stroller straight with one hand while holding the umbrella in the other. I'm sure we were amusing to watch. And I'm equally sure no one cared enough to watch us. Inside we headed for the check-in tables. The one corresponding to our last name had no line, which surprised me. Michael had said we might have to wait quite a while and in the rain. Instead, we went right through.

I went immediately to a touch-screen computer and voted. I always feel a little uneasy with the touch screen. I know they're fine, but it feels like my vote could be lost in a millisecond. When we punched the card they could always go back in and find it. And count it by hand. Or check for chads. Or hanging chads. Or partial punched chads...

We got our stickers and came on back home. Daniel didn't find the whole experience exciting enough and he refused to get out of the car, screaming "Go Bote, Mommy! Go Bote!" He was apparently expecting something more.

Our annual election party had to be canceled because of the lingering stomach bug symptoms. But have no doubt - we will be camped in front of the tv and computers tonight! We love to watch the returns coming in! And tonight we're watching from a swing state so there's even more anticipation than normal.

I love election day!

2 comments:

gail said...

great post! so sorry it was raining! i can just visualize you with the stroller, the umbrella, and all.

we're going to be camped out in front of the tv too. what website do you watch?

gail in a non-batleground state, so disappointing.

KarenW said...

"Go bote." How funny. I imagine all that effort just to spend 30 seconds casting your vote was a disappointment for the little guy.