Everyone gets doughnuts on Election Day!

Obama-supporting firefighters are very cool and will take pictures with kids visiting the polls.

See what I mean? Everyone gets doughnuts on Election Day!

And kids get special stickers from the poll workers at the Obama table–the last ones.

Obama poll workers are incredibly friendly–and they didn’t even know the outcome yet.

Maybe it’s because they had doughnuts AND all of these snacks to keep them going.

Oh yeah! Lots of snacks to keep them going.

I whispered “I hope so.” when this screen came up.

By now the boys thought I was crazy for photographing every screen, but it felt important. I was voting for…

YES I Did!!

I had the boys check to make sure I selected all the right buttons.

These are the machines Fairfax County is phasing out. I used one to vote any way.

From now on you’ll hide behind these cute little cubicles to fill in your paper ballot.

The poll monitors didn’t seem to have a whole bunch to do.

All walks of life in line, which I may add wasn’t that long.

I’m not sure of the point of carrying this easily copied piece of paper from one table to the voting booth, but I complied. I’m law-abiding like that.

We found the place! Also known as the 8th grade gym at my son’s school.

We were out by 10:30 a.m.

Helpful signs on the school monitor.

Isn’t that a friendly school? I waved back.

We had to put the brochures back after the picture because we couldn’t carry them inside. All three of our candidates won. VA is BLUE!!

This just made me feel good. I knew they were looking out for us.

And we were out so quickly, because there were no lines when we got there.

The signs were crammed in all the way up to the last inch before the no campaign zone. Before you even entered the school you could feel the excitement of the day.

And it was an exciting day. Of course that’s because it turned out the way I’d hoped it would, but I had a really good reason…

I’m so proud that they wanted to come with me, because my vote? It was all about them (and their sleeping little brother at home).

On Election night eight years ago, I was at a trade association poll watching party at about this time. These were the days when news outlets were still calling results based on exit polls.

I stood in a large crowd, one of the lone Democrats, when Pennsylvania was called for Gore. You could hear the collective groan as the news popped up on screen after screen throughout the
room.

My heart started racing. It took everything I had not to let out a loud “Woot!” but I was surrounded by clients and I was new to my job.

With Pennsylvania over, the party started dying down which gave me the opening I wanted to head over to the party I REALLY wanted to attend–the Democratic Party party at the Mayflower Hotel.

I jumped in my car, raced through downtown DC wanting to be among my people–old friends to hug and new friends to high five. Throwing all caution to the wind, I pulled into the valet, threw the bell captain my keys and ran into the ballroom. And I was so confused.

It was quiet.

Had everyone cheered too loudly and lost their voice? Were they worn out from jumping up and down and just taking a rest?

No. The news outlets realized they had prematurely called the race. In the time it took me to get across town, the whole election had turned around. We stood in the ballroom for hours and continued to hug, but the hugs were not to celebrate they were to console.

It would be weeks before we all knew the “official” outcome of the race–weeks before I gave up.

Tonight I am far more hopeful for a Democratic win, but I’m far more cynical too.

I hope the main stream media doesn’t screw it up again.

You, mere mortals, may look at my kitchen table and see only a mess.

It’s okay. Not everyone has “the gift.”

Because the message I read in the chips; however, is so important I’m going to share it with you today.

You don’t wanna mess with the force of the chip.

It’s a whole different primary day here in the Mid-Atlantic today.

The “mommybloggers” are blogging about it.

Our office manager is quietly sporting a Vote of Die t-shirt under her cute sweater today.

Everyone in my office had already voted by 9:00 a.m.

The Liberal Ladies* were aflurry on email this morning reporting in on their poll experiences.

I voted at 7:30 this morning. There were not many people in line and I
was in and out within five minutes. I was number 71 on the VA D
side.

Any other experiences out there?

I went at 8:45 a.m. and was number 105 on the D side and noticed that there were about 35 voters on the R side. There was a small line (about 4 people) when I left which is a lot for our little precinct!

I left my house at 9:30, walked over, no line at all but they said right
before I came that the line was to the door, which is my usual experience.
A few came inafter me, all Ds – not an R in sight.

OK – My Husband went at 11:00. No one else was there. He took
an ‘R’ card (don’t ask) – he was number 45. The R cards are white and the
D cards are blue. He said there was a huge stack of blue cards…

I voted for Hillary because as I stood in the booth and looked at the names
on the ballot I just HAD to vote for a woman, especially after my daughter told me
this morning that she wanted me to vote for Hillary because she wants to be
president one day and thought that having a woman now would help her
later. How could I not??

Had I been able to vote, I would have voted in the democratic primary for
Obama (You missed a bit of the political banter at dinner – I am not a fan of
Hillary Clinton – my impression is that she will stop at nothing to gain power
so there was much debate over the pros and cons of the two leading democratic
contenders). As you may know, in Virginia Independents are allowed to vote in
either primary and you must sign a form saying you will not vote in the other
primary.

Got to tell you, I was so pleased and proud to see a woman’s name on the
ballot. Empowering.

But I’m one of those “older women in pant suits” – I really resent being
stereotyped (and being old). I suppose the rest of you can figure it
out…I stopped at the Corner Bakery after I voted proudly wearing my “I voted”
sticker. The cashier asked if I voted for her candidate and when I said
yes, she gave me the thumbs up. I guy in his early 20’s with a goatee
gasped in horror and said at least I was in the right party. I asked him
if he wanted to discuss and he rolled his eyes, and turned away in disgust, and
under his breath said “you people are losers”. Needless to say, I was a
bit deflated. This party needs to work together!

So the Liberal Ladies who were able to vote (one is a registered Independent and therefore can’t vote in the MD primary) went for Hillary 2-1 (in VA). We still have two who haven’t yet voted (one in VA and one in DC)–but they plan to.

Co-workers are coming in 3 for Obama (two voting in VA and one in MD) and one for…we think Huckabee.

I’m leaning very heavily toward Obama. And I say leaning right now because I this morning I was sure I was going to vote for him, but I’ve talked to two different women today who talked about the idea of voting for Clinton because of their daughters.

I have to tell you I am over the moon that there is a woman on the ballot. For the first time in my life, I have the chance to vote for a woman for President. My whole life I’ve been told I could do anything, but the faces in the highest office never looked like mine, so there always seemed to be a caveat to that promise.

I mentioned this to my boss over lunch today and he responded by saying that it might be wonderful to see a woman on the ticket, but that doesn’t mean she’s the right candidate–and then he laughed like he had made the best joke at my expense. While I agree with this premise, it pissed me off. As a white man, he has no idea how it feels to look at our country’s top leaders (save the recent ascent of Pelosi) and not see your mother’s or your face among them.

And don’t worry. I told him so.

So when I visit the polls tonight I believe I will put a check next to the name Barak Obama, but not without ache in my heart.

*I’d link to a post about my girls the “Liberal Ladies” but they refuse to comment on my blog–except one of them, once, anonymously–though I know they’re lurking. So alas. this is the first time you’ve probably heard of them. And if they don’t begin to comment, I’m going to start making up stories about each of them here.