Don't Blame Me...

... I voted for McCain. There. Let's just get it out in the open from the get go. Not knowing who all will be reading this, I will simply say I cannot understand how anyone could possibly vote for someone whose only claim to fame is his promise of socialism and to raise taxes, a person with no military experience or support, a person with no history of ever accomplishing anything as a politician, a person who has stated his intentions to try to negotiate with terrorists, and a person who has promised to bankrupt the coal industry. How he got a single vote to be the Commander in Chief of the United States of America is beyond me. And let me go on record saying racism, in ANY form, should never be tolerated and no person should be elected to any office based solely on the color of his or her skin. Moving on...

Ashleigh and I had a very educational day working at the polls today. It went very, very smoothly. We were assigned to the huge lobby of a vo-tech school where three districts were assigned to vote. Ashleigh and I were in different districts but within 50 feet of each other all day. We got there at 6 AM and got home after 9 PM. I had 1700 people registered in my district and we had 1291 people vote (76%). Ashleigh had about 900 people in her district with a 68% turnout. The other district had about 600 people in the district but I don't know their turnout numbers. Voting was very heavy early with long lines but it tapered off around mid-day to a steady but manageable stream. Some of the candidates shipped in pizza and subs for us poll workers. There were different positions that we worked at - voter ID and signature card distribution, card filing, voter information updating, and assisting people at the voting machines. Everyone pretty much gravitated to doing what they preferred - I preferred to work the voting machines; Ashleigh liked to work with the card distribution. The voting machines were touch screen, electronic devices. Many, many people voted for the first time or the first time in a long time. Working the machines meant I was on my feet all day but I was busy and personally helped over 500 people vote. I felt like I accomplished something. One of the state representative candidates voted at my booth. But when I announced his name, I accidentally pronounced it wrong. It was in that column I didn't read when I voted... ha ha At the end of the night, I was responsible for counting the writing-in votes. One item was of particular note: Huckabee and Palin for President and Vice President! It was a long day and we generally enjoyed it but it was an interesting election process and from our view, 100% legitimate and valid with checks and balances throughout the system.

More importantly than all of that, we both made some money and Ashleigh got school credit...