The Story of Voter #1304.

I stopped at my voting precinct this morning about 7:30 am to vote before heading to work and found the usual spot empty. Going into the school, I was told that they were voting in the gym. Popping my head in, I saw a line running all around the perimeter and realized there was no way in heck I'd get to work on time.

Returning a bit before 6 pm, I had no problem getting parking and a guy holding a sign for some Circuit Court judicial candidate said the wait was about 15 minutes. I had a paperback and my PDA, so I was ready for a long wait as I entered...

....the nearly empty gym. Huh?

There was no line at all. I walked to the ballot signup table and presented it to the woman handling the "B"s who asked if I was related to my mother. I told her about Mom's stroke and where she was in residence. Looking over to the voting booths, I spotted a woman I know whom I always seem to see at the polls. Taking the next booth over, I said hello and we proceeded to chat and joke about how we were canceling each others' votes out while we marked our ballots. She asked if I'm Republican and I said, "I am this week. More accurately, I'm voting anti-Democrat, as usual. If it was Hillary, I would've voted Barr (the Libertarian), but because it's Obama, I gotta go McCain." She said she liked McCain, but "hated" Palin for all the usual reasons. (God, abortion, blah-blah-woof-woof.)

I skipped most of the ballot - why vote for trustees and board members you know nothing about? - scattering my non Moose-Slayer votes among Libertarian and Stupid Party candidates. I voted yes on medical marijuana (though I believe it's a punk half-step instead of a proper decriminalization) and no on public stem cell research funding (let the private sector play Frankenstein on their dime).

On my way out, a young guy from the University of Toronto college paper (apparently he's from my area) asked if I'd be willing to be interviewed and, of course, I dropped a ton of science on him. I could tell by the look on his face he didn't know much of what I was telling him about how the Treason Media (just "media" for his purposes) had deliberately failed on vetting Obama compared to the anal probes Palin and others got. When he took my picture, I thought, "Good thing I shaved this morning." (I somehow knew I should tidy up this morning. I even wore pants!)

1300 people voted ahead of me, so it's a good thing from a civic perspective, though the fact that so many voted ignorantly for an ultra-radical fascist makes me wish they'd stayed home.

Total time spent at polls (not counting the interview): 13 minutes, and most of that was chatting people up. If I hadn't stopped, I would've been in and out in five minutes.