etee's Blog

Actually, I got back about an hour ago. I had to unload and process the photos, get me some breakfast, and take the morning meds. Now I'm good to go.

The first thing I noticed when I pulled up to the polling place was the incredibly looooooong line of people waiting to vote:

Follow up:

Huh?!? Are my eyes deceiving me? Let's look again, just to be sure:

Yep. I was right. There are no people here. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Goose-egg.... Wait! I think I see one!

(Actually, there is another one -- hiding behind one of the columns.)

Anyway, by now I am sure you get the point: the lines were not overwhelmingly long, at least not at the polling place where I vote.

In fact, when the polls opened at 7AM there were a grand total of 8 people in line. I was number 4. Which was good, because there were only 3 working eSlate machines. Yes, I said 3 working voting booths. The 4th, which was configured for handicapped people, was not functional. The election officials assured me there would be more booths delivered later in the day, but that three had been set up based on voting patterns in the last general election.

I hate to inform the good folks in Richmond, but this area has grown a bit in the last two years.

Anyway, after the matter of my identity was straightened out (it seems the county registered my son without the "Jr", so he and I show up on the rolls with the exact same name - and he voted early!), I got to stand in another line to wait for a free booth so I could get my access code (as a security measure, those codes expire after twenty minutes, so they don't issue them until a booth is available.)

Finally - with access code in hand, I make my way to the booth, and start punching buttons at random (just kidding, folks!)

Actually, I read the instructions over, and begin the process.

One thing about eSlates, you can tell if someone is casting a write-in vote by the rapid-fire click-click-click as they "type" in all the letters.

About 5 minutes later, I finish, punch the red "Cast Ballot" button (obviously a Unix geek wrote the code - it didn't ask me "Are you sure you want to do this?" 20 times), and walk out. The line inside had grown to 10 people. Outside? Take a look:

Hopping in the car, I then drove home. On the way, I thought I would get a shot of all the political signage:

OK, two shots:

And so, gentle reader, that is it. Nice and simple, and sorta anti-climactic, given all the pre-election hoopla. I'll be taking the rest of the day off, blogging some through the day, but also spending some quality time visiting several places where I can relax and recharge the ol' batteries.

Technorati tags: politics, current events