Election Day (Part 1)

I have to say that this whole election process has been one of the most surreal moments in American history and I am glad I was able to experience it in my lifetime. Though as the days of election closed in it became evident that we could have a black president I still wasn’t sure that it could happen.

There have been two subjects that were always taboo to discuss with others. Money and political alignment. People just didn’t talk about those things with one another. In the past months that has changed.

I must say that I was glad to be able to experience this, especially in New York. I say this because in California I may have been a little disconnected from the process for several reasons. One being that I would be driving therefore missing the general buzz that filled the air that day. Second, because I lived in a predominately white area in California. There would be an excitement, but the excitement that permeated Harlem was incredible.

I initially went to the wrong polling place and I am glad that it wasn’t where I was supposed to vote. The lines were ridiculous. They stretched around buildings and blocks. People didn’t seem deterred. They were determined to place their vote. Young, black, old, white it didn’t matter, they were going to place their vote.

So just in case you didn’t know taking photos inside a polling place is a bad thing. You’re not allowed to do that. In all honesty I’m not sure if I knew that or not, so I started snapping away. For a while nobody said anything. People kind of stared at me but so what? Eventually someone said I couldn’t take pictures and I stopped. So yeah that’s a bad thing.

I had to vote at the most ancient polling booth ever. I wish I could’ve taken a picture but I had already gotten told this wasn’t allowed and there was a long line. Plus I wasn’t trying to do anything that would disqualify my vote. So you just have to close your eyes and imagine it based on my description. You know most places have the computers you can vote on or the little machines that you mark. But not in New York. They always have to be the difficult state. First off, there was a physical person there to describe how to use this contraption. Contraption or The Beast are the only words that truly capture the magnitude of this polling booth.

You walk in and the curtain closes behind you. It made me feel like The Wizard of Oz. Like I was controlling something else. The Beast was much taller than me. Literally. You have to mark your choices and at the bottom was this huge lever that you had to use both hands to move from right to left. I think in its previous life this was the same lever used to awaken Frankenstein. Then you were done. I felt bamboozled. How did I know that it really counted my vote? People don’t get their own individual ballots that they drop in a box or anything. You turn the lever and that’s it. Was this some kind of conspiracy?

People were just so excited to vote. They were even friendlier than normal. A New Yorker actually smiled at me. Can you believe it? I thought I might pee in my pants!

When I got off the train and entered Chelsea it was the same type of pandemonium. Sure the sea of faces were a different color but it seemed everyone and their mama was voting. I got to work and people were talking about it. I really felt bad for McCain supporters. In general, I noticed those for McCain weren’t so vocal about their platform and beliefs. It was like they were in hiding hoping to not be discovered.