My voting experience was overall uneventful. It was much different than going to vote for the first time during the presidential elections, when i got up to be at the polls right when they opened, during the cold rain and waited in long lines and avoided buying baked goods from Woodson High School students. This time, I left work and traveled in rush hour, trying to get to the poll before it closed, and luckily i made it- my voting place is Woodson High School on Main St. in Fairfax. I thought for some reason that the polls closed at 6, but it is 7 so i was actually fine on time. There was plenty of parking, but no signs on where to enter the building- so I went in by the orchestra room and walked past the theatre kids all dressed up like some sort of plants?? i don't know. I got to the room, told them my name, realized i never changed my address on my registration card, from moving off campus- so i pretended that i still live there- don't think that's a big deal at all. Then i chose between paper and electronic ballot- i chose electronic, because it's the sustainable thing to do right? When I was in line, one of the three polling stations broke and then there were two left and i was first in line. I didn't care, but apparently, this was reason for some Fairfax people to freak out, because their time's so precious- so many people opted out of electronic ballot to get a paper one because they didn't want to wait. I couldn't help but notice that the people who couldn't wait were white men, with plain english accents, and the two people at the electronic polling stations were women of hispanic decent- each with two or three children. Is this coincidence? don't know, but i thought it would be noteworthy here. When i got to the polling station, i cast my vote for Connolly- duh. Fimian does not support abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, where as Connolly has voted for equal pay for women. That's enough for me! Then i voted on the three other things- amendments- they were somewhat hard to understand, but i did my best and am pretty sure that i voted for road improvements in fairfax, a tax exempt something for veterans or their surviving spouses (how about a partner, ahem?) and then some other tax thing, don't really remember what that was, honestly.
I'm definitely glad i voted since the Congressional one is STILL so close! ... crossing my fingers!
I liked how you compared your experiences from voting in this election versus the Presidential election. I was able to vote in the morning and overall my experience was a little different. Everything went smoothly except I had a hold of my drivers licenses in my purse and dropped it back into my purse, then the man behind me asked if I was going to be a minutes as he proceeded to walk around me. The registration ladies told him to step behind the line until I finished finding my ID (go ladies!) and the man grumbled. I also did the electronic ballot but I always worry that they are not calculated properly by the computer the results feed into but I guess voter fraud can happen with paper ballots too.
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