Rocking the Vote

Election day.

What a special day. Especially because NJ's had this insane record
increase of voter signups. I literally can't walk outside my house
without seeing a smattering of campaign signs. I live by the
Somerville Circle (traffic circle, roundabout, whatever you call it)
and about every 2 feet there is a campaign sign. Red. Blue. Red. Blue.
Every major intersection, road split, etc. Signs everywhere. Oddly
enough, not one Obama sign. And only a few McCain ones.

My designated voting area is the local 4-H. I got there at 6:40am so
that I could cast my vote before work and beat the morning rush. It's
funny. In a small town like mine, I ran into half the world, it
seemed. And of course you have to stop and chat with them making this
process ridiculously long. I saw my neighbor P&D's dad leaving. I saw
Mrs. G (J&H's mom) who I was actually quite excited to run into -- she
was one of my favorite swimming patents. I saw my other street
neighbors. And then of course when you also know the volunteer working
the polling center, you find yourself at the polls for even longer.
(Did you know that the volunteers are there from 4am to midnight?!)
All in all, I was in and out in 30 min, mostly because I was chatting
with people. But it was leaving the polling center that was slowest.
Cars trying to get in were blocking the road to leave. Of course you
can only imagine. They desperately needed someone to help direct
traffic. It took me 15 min to actually leave. LOL

My family's so cute. I ran into my dad leaving as I arrived. I ran
into my mom arriving as I left.

When I get to work, I'm going to print a map of the US and color them
red and blue as they get announced. It'll go into my pile of maps from
precious elections.