b The Longhorn Mafia <$BlogRSDURL$>

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Politics: Election Day! 

I cast my ballot at approximately 7:50 a.m. CST. Observations while standing in line:

- By 7:15 the line was already about 50 people deep. Apparently a lot of folks wanted to vote before work or school. I waited in line for about thirty minutes.

- The Travis County ballot was pretty ho-hum. There were only a handful of competitive races. Aside from the Presidency, the thing I was most excited about was voting against the Commuter Rail proposition.

- One poor girl waited in line as long as I did, only to learn that she was in the wrong polling place. In her defense, my neighborhood is confusing. There are three voting locations within about eight blocks, and the precinct lines are screwy. In college I lived no more than ten blocks from where I now live, and when I finally changed my address last election, I ended up in a different precinct.

- Two very vocal Kerry supporters stood in the parking lot of the church where I voted. They asked each and every person whether or not they had any difficulty voting. I wanted to tell them, "my only difficulty was that I could vote for the President but one time." I didn't realize that voter intimidation was something we had to worry about in my mostly geriatric neighborhood.

- Voting is a great feeling. Maybe not everyone looks at it like I do, but when I cast a ballot, I feel like I'm making a contribution to society. It's fulfilling a civic obligation, which I think far too many people take for granted.

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