November 02, 2004
Voting: The Odyssey
The polls in Maryland opened at 7 this morning, and I left my apartment at 7 to drive to my polling place. I arrived at maybe 7:05. I found a parking spot at around 7:25. One of the workers at the polling place said that there were around 300 people waiting when the polls opened. So I proceeded to wait in line for about an hour. We inched our way toward the door. At first the temperature wasn't too bad, but standing in 55 degrees got a bit chilly after a while, so it was good to get inside. Where I waited more, and found myself wishing that my last name began with H-O, as there were so few of them that they kept getting to jump ahead. The room where the booths were was tiny and all the lines kept getting mashed together, but it all worked out in the end. I voted and arrived to work a mere 90 minutes late.
I think some people may have gotten discouraged by the parking situation, but I didn't see anyone leave the line to get inside. It was really cool seeing such high interest.
So if you haven't already...get out there and vote!