Well, by the time this is posted we should know who the next President of United States is and things can settle down a bit. Between the Phillies winning the World Series, Halloween and the election things have been way too exciting for me.
All day Tuesday I have been trying to write the post for Wednesday (today) but have been unfocused and nervous. The post I was planning was a little snarky too and that didn’t seem appropriate for the day after the election so I’m going to have to save it for another day.
I took the photo above at 7:30 Tuesday morning. It is of the polling place across the street from where I live. I live on the South side of the street so that isn’t my polling place – that would be too convenient. Mine is two blocks South.
I was planning on going to vote at 8am and taking my daughter with me. After voting I was going to drop her off at childcare because schools in Philly are closed today and then head to work. I find it ironic that the people that are too young to vote have the day off but the rest of have to go to work and figure out when we are going to get to the polls. But, that is a different topic.
Anyway, I looked out the window at 6:30am and already saw a long line of people outside of the polling place pictured. I have NEVER seen a line there before – NEVER. I said to my daughter, “change in plans, we’re going to go vote now, come back home and then go to daycare and work”. She looked at me like I was nuts but, then, she’s used to me.
We threw on our coats over our pajamas and header over to our location. We arrived a couple of minutes before 7am and there was already a long line heading down the block. I have NEVER waited to vote before. Ok, maybe behind 3 people but never outside.
It was mostly efficient and we were there about 45 mins. One of the staff runs the big haunted garden, a halloween tradition in our neighborhood, and she had leftover candy that she was handing out. My daughter was pretty excited about having a tootsie-pop at 7am.
The only inefficient part was that the A-M book had a lot more people than the N-Z so if you were an N-Z you could go to the front and get in and out a lot faster. I know, I know my last name begins with a W. Well, not legally – not yet. It’s still a B and I can’t change my name back to a W until all the paperwork has been processed.
When we were walking home, my daughter told me that she had fun and that she liked voting. When I asked why she said that it was fun to go out in our pajamas, she liked being in the booth, and they gave her a lollipop. Sounds like good reasons to me.
We then went home, got dressed properly and went to daycare and to work.
I should not have gone to work. I was nervous and edgy all day and accomplished nothing.
The Obama Party Bus was driving all around the neighborhood filled with students, black and white, blaring music, “Put your hands up for Barack. Put your hands up for Barack.” Of course, Philly always goes Democrat and PA tends to go blue even though it is close. It was just amazing to me to see so much energy, enthusiasm and excitement. I’ve never seem anything like this in my lifetime. Regardless of who wins, the voter turnout is inspiring.
After work there was an incredible energy in the air as I was heading to pick up my daughter. People were really excited. The line at Ben & Jerry’s for free ice cream was longer than the lines at many of the polls.
All night I watched coverage on MSNBC online. I was still so edgy. I felt icky like I was watching a car crash but couldn’t look away. I wanted to do something else but couldn’t stop.
How did you feel on election day? I’m not asking if your candidate won. I’m just wondering how you felt. Were you nervous, excited, hopeful?
**Update – At 11:06PM – it’s called for Obama. Relief.
Sorry, I can’t really say how I felt without giving away who my candidate was. ;-) I was cautiously optimistic all day. I thought it was going to be a lot closer than it was and was basically watching peeking through my fingers until Ohio went for Obama. After that, all the dominoes started to fall and I started to get really excited. I do have to say that seeing people of all ages, races, and backgrounds standing together in Chicago and cheering and singing together brought tears to my eyes. I keep pinching myself like this is all a big dream.
Ron Obvious’s last blog post – Charlie Chaplin made this speech in ‘The Great…
Wow. I voted around 5:30 p.m. and it was easy-in and easy-out. From entering the building to leaving, maybe 10 minutes passed.
Then again, I was the 1,612th voter in my precinct in a small city with about 17,000 residents and assume approximately 13,000 or so voters?
Ari Herzog’s last blog post – Anything is Possible
@Ron/Jim – I think a lot of people are pinching themselves this morning. Philadelphia is more subdued than I anticipated but I think people are exhausted. The crowd and the speech in Chicago was amazing and historic. I’ve been thinking about how far we’ve come since the year that I was born, 1968.
@Ari – I think people thought it was going to be a madhouse and everyone went to vote early. I walked by 3-4 polling places on my way home between 5:30-6 and there was no one there. Or at least there weren’t any lines. I’m not sure how many people are in my ward – there are a lot of them in Philly. The photo of the polling place across the street from my house isn’t even my polling center. I’m on the wrong side of the street and mine is 2 blocks to the South. The line was just as long at mine but it was easier to get a photo of the closer one.
I was relieved too! Although in California we are still waiting for prop 8 and prop 4 to be announced – I’m hoping for the best.
Susan’s last blog post – Oceanside Beaches
“Were you nervous, excited, hopeful?”
None of the above… the U.S. is not in a good place and I need to see real changes before I get excited. It’s going to take time.
Also, I do worry about higher taxes. We already pay a lot here in California.
Vered – MomGrind’s last blog post – How To Get More Subscribers, And Why You Shouldn’t Bother
I was so nervous; I couldn’t stay focused on the day and the things I had to do. When I went out on my lunch break to eat and to go to the bank, people were strangely calm, and much nicer than normal. Over the past few days, I was able to do my day-job, work on my business, cook, and keep the house clean with my SO but we didn’t do much else. After it was announced 8:00PM PST, I couldn’t stop crying. I felt so relieved and was able to sleep later that night.
Carla’s last blog post – Cautious or paranoid? Finding balance with green living
@Susan – I don’t think it passed.
@Vered – What taxes are so high in California? Is it the state tax or property taxes? Since our country is currently in such debt and fighting two wars, I don’t know how else these things will be paid for … I would be happy if the tax money we pay could be reallocated for more positive things…
@Carla – I’m so tired today that I was wishing I lived on the West Coast. We didn’t get the victory speech until midnight, which was 9 your time. Even after that was over people were partying outside until about 1am. It was amazing to me to witness such excitement over a presidential election.
I was excited to find out how things were going to turn out. Cautiously excited, as there could have been major hiccups that caused some kind of delay in figuring out the results. It was great to see so many people getting involved in election debates this year, probably since it was the first election where I was monitoring all the social media outlets.
~ Kristi
Kikolani | Poetry, Photography, Blogging Tips’s last blog post – Fall Colors
Kristi – I think I was more informed than in previous years because of social media. I rarely watch television so I don’t rely on that for information.
Great post Kim.
Before the result was announced, I was hopeful and excited. After it, not so much.
Personally I was not as relieved as you were, but rather disappointed in the narrow-mindedness displayed by the voters. I was really hoping that Polachek would win but over 95% of the votes went to either McCain or Obama. Considering everyone keeps talking about “change” it’s funny that they would elect someone from one of the two parties who have been running this country almost since it began. I’m sure so much will change now.
Wesley’s last blog post – ^^ Will that do anything or is it so small it’s barely noticeable?
Wesley – I agree that we need more choices and to move beyond the two party system. I’ve thought this for a long time.
But, for now, it is pretty amazing that a country as racist as ours elected Barack Obama – it’s historic. I was born in 1968 – the year that both Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated and I think this election shows how far we have come.
But, will Obama disappoint us? Absolutely. He is going to govern from the center and is not going to be as left as people would like. He has to. It is the only way that he will be reelected again in 4 years.
In 2000 I was a fan of the Natural Law Party. They have since shut down but you might be interested in reading about it. http://www.natural-law.org/ I kind of think of it as the Common Sense Party.
Hi Kim – it sounds like it was a brilliant atmosphere. I’m from the UK but obviously I was hopeful that Obama would win. I went to bed early, rather than watching the election coverage and saw the celebrations on TV when I woke up.
I must admit, I’ve felt excited ever since. Obama has a huge task ahead of him. But I think the fact that he has been voted President should fill most of the world with optimism. He’s proved that anything is possible. And that alone will go a long way in helping our countries out of recession. One person alone can’t do it but the efforts of many of us can.
Hi Cath – Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Philadelphia always votes democrat. In addition, there is a large African-American population so people were SO excited. I looked up the stats for my voting district and over 96% of the people voted for Obama.
I doubt that what I experienced occurred outside of large urban areas. Sometimes, because I live in such a liberal part of the country, I am shocked what other parts of the country are like.
It is very exciting. His speech was amazing and I’m so glad to have been a part of it. I did, however, stay up much too late and really paid for it yesterday.