i voted

Yesterday, I realized that I had not changed my voter registration for the new precinct/county after we moved last summer. I worried for a moment that I'd sacrificed my right until I remembered having done that last time we moved as well. That time, I'd simply voted in my old precinct. Allison had changed her registration, so we'd have to vote separately.
Normally, on Tuesday, I don't go in to work until after lunch because I teach until 9:30pm. So any other Tuesday I could have gone to vote at anytime during the morning. Today, though, I had to do Chapel this morning and so had to be at work a lot earlier. Most folks had voted already. The stories about the long lines were all over campus. 2 hours here, 2 and a half there. I became quite nervous because I didn't have a span of time long enough between classes to stand in line. I drove to the polls at 12:30 but had to abort to return to campus to teach. On my way back, Allison called from her place in line and told me she had been there 90 minutes and was almost to the sign-in table. As soon as my 2:00 o'clock was over, I drove back to the polls. There were about 7 cars in the parking lot. It took me less than 5 minutes from the time I left my truck until I returned having submitted my red and blue mixed ballot. As I drove back to work, I passed the precinct where I should have voted and the line was still backed up a hundred yards or so. I sighed at the misfortune of my new neighbors and drove back to work in plenty of time to get on with my day.
Everywhere, the day seemed charged with excitement, even when people were telling of their long stands in line. I don't ever remember this much unity of purpose even among people with differing political views. That is except for James Carville who yesterday, said that the 41% of Americans who thought that the country was on the right track were the "dumbest" Americans ever. That reminded me of the billboards a couple years ago that informed South Carolinians of how stupid they were if they didn't vote for the education lottery. I think maybe once, when I was in kindergarten, I was persuaded to change my mind about something because I was called "dumb" for my stance on an issue. Anyway, besides Carville, the rest of America seemed to be about a common purpose of electing leaders that in their opinions would be the best for the nation. Everyone seemed kind of pleased that there was so much civic responsibility being exercised that they had to spend large chunks of time standing in line to exercise their own.