earlier this afternoon i crawled out of bed, still feeling a bit ill, and walked out to the bowling alley, my polling place for this year’s election. all morning i had been hearing about these massive queues and last week i heard about the electronic voting machines not working properly. so i was gearing myself up for a not so pleasant experience. heck the only other time i had voted in a presidential election was back in ‘04 when Kerry lost to George Bush. And I vaguely remember there being a long line and the butterfly ballot controversy all day and it was just a mess i remember.
so anyway, as i walk in these two high school kids greet me, we get to talking, i remember when i was in high school they offered us the opportunity to go work at a polling site. anyhow, they asked me if i wanted to vote on the electronic machine. this was new to me, i was excited, but i remembered all the videos i saw on youtube about the machines casting the wrong vote. i was unsure, so i asked what should i do if there’s a malfunction? these two high school kids just looked at me like i was a moron. and i felt like a very paranoid, old person that felt like his vote wasn’t going to count. anyway, they gave me this little card that i put into a machine, told me not to pull out until i was finished, i laughed, and then went and voted.
the electronic voting machine was a thing of beauty my friends! i loved it. i could sit there all day and vote for people. no glitches, no mistakes, i was able to review all my votes, go back and change my votes, it was wonderful. such a pleasure. so much nicer than those god forsaken butterfly ballots.
even though i had such a great experience with the electronic voting machine, i am still skeptical for those folk who are unsure how to use this technology. yes i know it’s just a matter of taking a finger and pushing who you want to vote for, but at the same time, i doubt my grandparents would understand or get the concept of a touch screen. anyhow, i hope everything works out. i’d hate to hear tomorrow morning that obama…i mean any candidate lost because of voting malfunctions.
go out there and vote if you haven’t already…
oh and one more thing…black panthers, please don’t cause any trouble at the polling places. just let the people vote.
