Election Day

I'm still a bit in shock that we're at Election Day 2012 already. It seriously seems like a blink ago that I worked the polls (in NC) for the 2008 election. 

I can remember quite vividly, watching the tv all night (I was tracked out and didn't have to work in the morning) and being so hopeful that Obama would win. I remember really wanting him to win and feeling so emotionally connected to the election.

I also remember not being too concerned if he didn't win. Being a Democrat to my core, I wouldn't have given my vote to McCain, but I supported him and would have been happy with him as my President.

This year is different.

Maybe I'm different, and because my life has changed so much over the last four years, my views are not as tolerant. I don't know what it is, but this election has me worried.

While I'm not as emotionally connected to Obama with his re-election (in fact, had other individuals been named the Republican candidate, I may have given them my vote today), I just cannot, for the life of me, get Romney.

I don't want comments about him. I don't want to know why he's so great for women (BARF) or why he's "so much better than Obama" because to me, he's not. To me, he's worse than GW Bush (and that was PRETTY bad).

So tonight I feel a lot of nervousness about the outcome of this election. It's going to be a close one, and we may not know the results for a few days. However, I will eagerly watch to see who will be the 45th President of the United States.

This morning, Gus and I went to vote at 9am. It was raining quite heavily when I left the house, and had not stopped when I parked at the school where we vote. Fortunately, there was ample parking and I got Gus situated in the umbrella stroller and we made a mad dash through the rain to the school.

When I walked in, I was amazed. The place was practically empty. I was not anticipating an empty cafeteria! I expected at least some sort of a wait, but thankfully, we walked right up, got the voter card and headed to a machine to vote.

I don't know if you're supposed to take pictures of your ballot or not, but I took one anyway. In GA, we vote electronically and use a yellow card that goes into the machine when you vote and then the data is downloaded. Our ballot was very short this year (four pages total- eight items) and I was done in no time at all!

 

Voting cards and stickers

 I hurried Gus back through the rain and got into my car and the time that it took from leaving my car to getting back into my car was 13 minutes. It was amazing and I was so thrilled that I didn't have to wait in a long line with Gus.


We headed home and a little after 10:45 this morning, Gus threw up all over the kitchen floor. It was quite disgusting and I almost threw up cleaning it up. He has been fine for the rest of today, but I've decided to keep him home tomorrow and not go to the mall for our MC event there.

We played with dough tonight as we waited for Steve to get home from work. Gus was loving it. I'm so excited for Thursday because it's his first speech therapy session. I'm already loving the way he says blue "beeew" and orange  "oooooooar---ge." I'm eager to see what more he'll start to say with a little bit of help. I'm so glad that we'll be starting therapy before he's 2.5 (granted, it's three days before turning 2.5) because our pediatrician said if he wasn't talking more at 2.5 then we should seek help. Well, the help has arrived!!

That's it for me. I'm going to go to bed. I hope when I wake up in the morning, I hear that Obama was re-elected. If not, it's going to be a VERY long four years and I don't even want to think about the direction that our country will go.

"Yes We Can"

Okay, so I worked the polls yesterday and it wasn't as bad as I expected. I didn't get any sleep Monday night because I was so nervous about Tuesday and making a mistake or doing something wrong.

I ended up getting up at 4:45am and got into the shower. I had to get dressed and then eat breakfast, and pack any/all food that I was going to eat all day. We were told that there wouldn't be a lot of time to eat and relax, so to pack lightly. I did.

I arrived at the precinct at 5:45 and there were people already lined up outside the door. Our polls don't open until 6:30 here in NC, so they had quite some time (in the rain, I must add) outside before being allowed inside to vote.

There wasn't a lot to do inside because we had set everything up Monday night (I went after class). I was assigned to work at the Ballot Table. I was a little nervous because it's a pretty important station, but I had time to reread my manual and familiarize myself with the procedures for the table. We were told we'd be rotating throughout the day, so anyone who had a station that they didn't like, would have the chance to move. That didn't happen. I worked the Ballot Table the whole day.

I really liked being the person to give the ballot and tell people, "Thanks for voting." We had more than 640 people (648 to be exact) at my location. The longest line that anyone had was from 6:30a-7:00a and it was like 10 minutes long from arrival to departure. Not bad at all.

My mom and dad had to wait for more than an hour in Michigan to vote. I think because we had early voting here in NC, it REALLY helped with the lines and the turnout. My precinct had more than 80% of the people registered come and vote (either early or yesterday).

Anyway, I got home late (9:00p) and right away called my dad and told him about my adventures as an elections official. LOL. Then Steve and I watched television. I stayed up until 10:57 and then I couldn't stay up one minute longer. Little did I know what was about to take place at 11:00! ONLY THREE MORE MINUTES LONGER!!!

This morning I got up at 6:30 and headed downstairs to watch the news from 10:57pm (last night)-5am (this morning). I had DVR'd it anticipating that I'd be zonked before 11:00. I am glad I waited until this morning to watch because of a few reasons. A) I ended up watching from 6:30-9:00 this morning and would NOT have been able to stay awake that long last night-- yet I would have made myself stay up to watch. B) I was alone in the comfort of my home able to cry and cry and cry. :)

I can't even put words to how touched I was watching the events unfold. Pride? Disbelief? Lucky? Blessed? I don't know... but it was absolutely amazing to watch things change at 11:00. The reactions of the students at Spielman College, the crowd at Grant Park in Chicago, the people in Times Square... all just moved me to tears. Listening to a black commentator say that throughout his entire life, he NEVER thought he'd live to see a black man be elected as President. He was crying, I was crying, Jessie Jackson and Oprah were crying. It was just very moving.

I know there are a LOT of people out there angry and disappointed that "America got it wrong," with Obama being elected. Well, now you know how I have felt for the last eight years. Only to be able to say, "I knew it..."

I am excited for the changes that are happening and I am thankful to be alive and filled with so much energy and excitement over something so historic.

Enough from me... I could go on and on but I'll spare you.
>^..^<