"Are you a first time vote?"
"Yeah. I'm all excited for it!"
Time: late June. Fresh adult in the world, getting my I.D. card because no one would sell me any cigarettes. Just kidding... that's expensive. Seriously, I need an I.D. card, and I waited two hours for it. Two long, godforsaken hours. I got it about a week later. I was so happy!
Now to July. I had just filled out a voter registration card, and sent it to the Secretary of State's office in Austin. Two weeks later, I had my voter's card, ready to choose a future for this country.
And now to yesterday. I had been looking forward to this election because there was no way I was going to let those Republican motherfuckers take the keys back. For the time that I've been alive, I've lived through four Democratic governments, two Republican governments. Although I don't remember much pre-2003, I do remember egging on President Bush in 2004, and then seeing those Jib-Jab shorts about both Kerry and Bush.
I was ready for this election. I took a shower, dressed, and walked out the door to my old elementary school where the voting was to take place. In hand, my Canon Sure Shot Owl Date, because you never know what you see along the way. I walked past a barking Dachshund, a Time Warner Cable crew, and a nurse that was at the school when I was there, outside making a phone call.
As I reached the entrance (where the nurse was standing), a board said, "VOTING TO TAKE PLACE IN PORTABLE D-6." The arrow pointed to the left, so I followed it until I saw a sign that said in red "OFFICIAL POLLING PLACE/LUGAR DE VOTACIÓN OFFICIAL." I saw the portable and walked up to it. On the brown door was a sample ballot and next to that some directions. As I went back to open the door, it swung open, nearly missing me.
A tall man greeted me, and asked me for my name. I told him, and he directed me to a table in the back to a man who was doing names R - Z. He asked me for identification, and I handed him my voter registration card and I.D. (although the I.D. wasn't necessary because the law had been blocked by the DOJ). He had me sign a register next to where my name was printed. The binder was a big one, few inches thick. He then handed me a paper ballot and I walked over to a booth with white dividers. As I left the table, I could hear the volunteer say to a woman next to him how happy it made him to see young people coming to vote.
I set my sweater (it was warm inside and my camera was in the pocket) down on the floor, and began to fill out the ballot. I skimmed over the directions and began to fill in ovals with a black fine-tip Sharpie marker. Under the section marked "STRAIGHT PARTY VOTE" was an option to vote for all candidates of that party, so I went ahead and filled in the oval next to the Democrats.
Having a question about spaces that didn't have a Democratic candidate, I asked a volunteer there what it was I should do. She told me that I could vote for other candidates if I didn't like the candidate of my party's choice. For spaces that had no Democratic candidate, but had other parties, I choose the Libertarians. If no Libs and Dems, I choose the Greens. In some races, though, there was only a Republican, so I voted for them because there was no point in NOT voting because they had no competition.
After looking over my choices, I walked over to a machine near the door. A woman had arrived there before me, so I waited until she slid her ballot in and the machine accepted it. Now my turn, I slid my ballot in and the machine registered me as the 96th voter in my precinct.
"Is that?" I asked the same volunteer before.
"Yeah, that's it. Is this your first time voting?" she asked.
"It is, actually. I was so excited, doing my part!" I replied.
I thanked the volunteer and the greeter, and walked out of the beige portable, that had been there since I attended that school.
I walked home with my Sure Shot Owl Date in my jacket pocket, basking the glory of being able to participate in the Democratic tradition of the nation and the world.
