The first time
Today was the first time I ever voted. Wait, that didn't sound right. Today was the first time I voted in person. In all the elections I have voted in since turning 18 (seems SO long again, doesn't it), I have always chosen to use absentee ballots. It's always just been more convenient, and short of exercising my right to vote on a couple of amendments here and there that "mattered" to me, I have always felt that my vote would be more important elsewhere, like Florida. Or one of those other states that you wouldn't want to live in but where each vote counts more than mine. After all, my Congressman is starting his 28th year in office and I've voted against him every year. Besides, I've always been nonpartisan and primaries have never been open to me before.
But this year, it was different. I got to pick somebody, and it actually mattered. California was no long just a throwaway blue state that just happens to have the most delegates. California could actually make a difference in the national scheme of things. I didn't have to decide between two presidential nominees that were handpicked by the lovely yet misguided voters in some Midwest state whose residents don't even know where California is, or some coldass East Coast state whose residents don't remember what the sun looks like. I had a little bit more choice this year, and I loved it.
So here's my sticker, ladies and gents, and this is how I voted. Democratic primary, for Barack Obama, with no's on Props 91 and 92. Yes on Props. 93-97.
Here's the kicker. I voted with my mom today, who was also voting in person for the first time. She decided that she needed help on her ballot, so she just leaned over, peeked at mine, and filled hers in exactly the same way. My mother is hilarious.