I voted.
... and here's an image of my very blurry receipt, or as close as we get to having such a thing here in Georgia:
I'm a Georgia Voter
The line wasn't bad. I queued up at 11:40 am and finished at the stroke of 1:00 pm, so an hour and 20 minutes. I was able to find a parking space in the nearly-full lot, and I had my hot tea with me. Things were orderly: one of the volunteers passed sign-in cards down the line so that people could be ready when they got to the check-in point.
I saw more women than men voting, but that's to be expected in a residential area at that time of day; a fair number had young children in tow. I saw several of our neighbors. No one visibly disobeyed the political clothing rule, although I did see at least four men in solid, bright red shirts, one of whom was wearing a FDNY baseball cap, obviously evoking 9/11. I saw some blue shirts as well, but only one that was so bold that it looked like it was selected for the purpose of advertising the voter's preference. At one point in the line, I could see voting screens, and I did see one woman in a white shirt voting for Obama. I did not mean to look, actually - my eye was drawn there by her two children, who seemed to be having fun playing ring-around-the-mommy. She bent down to curtail them, and that's when I glimpsed her screen by accident.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear a Firefly fan behind me evangelizing the show to a female friend who had accompanied him. "The show has a huge fan base!" he enthused. I piped up: "Yes. Yes it does." He laughed, and told his companion, "See? It's everywhere!" I played my cell phone ringtone (the show's theme) for them, and got a thumbs-up. He was nattering on to her about the huge lines for the panels at Dragon*Con, etc.
Speaking of cell phones, no one said a thing about them. There were no signs posted at the polling place about not using them, no one was directed to turn theirs off, and there was nary a whisper about camera usage. I did not violate Georgia law by photographing my vote, but I think I could have done so without anyone uttering a peep about it.
Just for fun, here's a poll:
Poll Did you vote?
I've got my popcorn ready for tonight's results.
I'm a Georgia Voter
The line wasn't bad. I queued up at 11:40 am and finished at the stroke of 1:00 pm, so an hour and 20 minutes. I was able to find a parking space in the nearly-full lot, and I had my hot tea with me. Things were orderly: one of the volunteers passed sign-in cards down the line so that people could be ready when they got to the check-in point.
I saw more women than men voting, but that's to be expected in a residential area at that time of day; a fair number had young children in tow. I saw several of our neighbors. No one visibly disobeyed the political clothing rule, although I did see at least four men in solid, bright red shirts, one of whom was wearing a FDNY baseball cap, obviously evoking 9/11. I saw some blue shirts as well, but only one that was so bold that it looked like it was selected for the purpose of advertising the voter's preference. At one point in the line, I could see voting screens, and I did see one woman in a white shirt voting for Obama. I did not mean to look, actually - my eye was drawn there by her two children, who seemed to be having fun playing ring-around-the-mommy. She bent down to curtail them, and that's when I glimpsed her screen by accident.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear a Firefly fan behind me evangelizing the show to a female friend who had accompanied him. "The show has a huge fan base!" he enthused. I piped up: "Yes. Yes it does." He laughed, and told his companion, "See? It's everywhere!" I played my cell phone ringtone (the show's theme) for them, and got a thumbs-up. He was nattering on to her about the huge lines for the panels at Dragon*Con, etc.
Speaking of cell phones, no one said a thing about them. There were no signs posted at the polling place about not using them, no one was directed to turn theirs off, and there was nary a whisper about camera usage. I did not violate Georgia law by photographing my vote, but I think I could have done so without anyone uttering a peep about it.
Just for fun, here's a poll:
Poll Did you vote?
I've got my popcorn ready for tonight's results.