Ah, the Joy of NOT Voting Early!

Here it is, at last, Election Day 2008. Tomorrow, we should find the airways clear of the attack ads and recriminations that have marked this election year. I won't miss the ads, but I must admit I've been an election night junkie all the way back to 1960, when, at just seven years of age, I stayed up until returns showed that John Kennedy had edged out Richard Nixon in a very close election. My brother Buddy and I even did mock elections with little slips of paper with each state's electoral votes on them. That was way before the Red State/Blue State thing, which the media has helped to perpetrate. Polling was much less prevalent, and less reliable as well. In every presidential election since, I've stayed up as late as necessary to determine the winner--except in 2000, when I would have had to go several days with no sleep before the Supreme Court threw out Al Gore's last chance.

As a teacher, I always tried to educate my students about the electoral process, and we had fun holding our own mock elections with electoral votes, as well as keeping track of periodic secret ballot votes on a class graph. You must realize that this included the elections of 1976, '80, '84, '88, '92, '96, '00, and '04. Usually the results reflected Moore County's political demographics, but even those have changed a lot in 30+ years. I am proud to say that I never gave students a clue who I was supporting, even if asked directly.

I missed getting to do the mock elections with a class this year, but not enough to come out of retirement! In fact, this was the first year in decades that Judy and I got to go to the polls together. I held off on voting early, wanting to know as much about all the candidates as I could (sometimes learning more than I wanted!). I also suspected, once state-wide early voting totals exceeded 2 million, that voting day lines might actually be SHORTER than usual.

We vote at Taylortown precinct, not even a mile from our house. What was my (our) delight to walk in the gym and see ONE lady ahead of us! That's right--ONE! We were finished in FIVE MINUTES, after anticipating a long wait, and even taking along reading materials. I inquired to one of the poll workers about turnout. I was voter number 50 today in a precinct with about 650 registered voters. But a whopping 450 had voted early! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, early voters! That means only 150 more voters need to show up ALL DAY at Taylortown to have 100% participation. Truly unprecedented!

Well, I'll be up late tonight, but not for celebrations or hoopla. I think it's part of my love of history, and being part of democracy in action, history as it unfolds. But for the first time since I voted as an 18 year old, I can sleep in tomorrow!

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Just an explanatory note about the new picture that greets you on my blog. This is me, my father, and my brother in front of the T-28 I was privileged to fly in at Daddy's last Air Force reunion. I will be posting more than once about Veterans Day, which is next Tuesday. Please keep in mind our servicemen, both living and dead, active or retired, and honor them in some suitable way. Just by putting on that uniform they say they are willing to sacrifice for US!