Go Vote

This morning, I was thinking about what I should post today.  I annually remind you to vote, and list lots of reasons why you should.  Those reasons haven't changed and I still believe in them.  If you need some motivation read the archives, or better yet, just GO VOTE.

I had decided to write just that small snippet above.  My yearly public service message, but this morning I took my own advice and went to vote, and it seems I have yet another polling place funny to tell you.    I guess this is one benefit of moving around, a normally mundane task, like voting, can be new and exciting all the time!

We did the motor voter thing when we got our new licensees, so I knew I was registered.  I had actually been quite impressed with the speed and efficiency with which our voter registration cards came in the mail.  The location where you vote is printed on there, nice and clear, "you vote at: Local High School" is what is says.  We live a few blocks from there and drive by it every day, so I knew exactly where to go. Yesterday I had also received several flyers from various candidates with YOUR VOTING LOCATION IS: LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL printed in bold letters on them, so I was feeling pretty confident about my ability to carry out the basic task of voting, which I've been doing for nearly 15 years.

This morning at 8:09 I showed up at my appointed voting location,  pulled into the parking lot, right under the sign that say "Local High School", parked my car in a very sparsely populated lot and started to get a little nervous, it was awfully quiet.  Hub and I got out and walked up the steps under the big granite engraved letters proclaiming "Local High School".  We marched on up to the front doors: Which were locked.

Yes.  Locked.  Not a soul in sight.  No sign of voting or people or anything.  A small yellow sign on the street corner had said "vote here", so I was pretty sure that we were in the right place, but yet, the doors were locked.

We were in the middle of deciding to drive around back (in the manner of a married couple, early in the morning, slightly annoyed about this situation and without enough caffeine might do), when another women popped up behind us and said, "Are those doors locked.  There is a door back there propped open with a chair maybe we go there."

So we did.

And we found, an empty gym.

We pressed on.

We found basketball tryouts.

Thankfully, the coach (?) was kind enough to show us the way.  At this point we parted ways with the other voter, we opted to return to our car and drive around the building, while she pressed on through the hallways of our (very nice) local high school.

In the end, we all voted (on those new electronic machines) and no harm was done.  But thinking about it made me really upset. What if someone else comes to vote and doesn't find their way back there?  Access to the polls is the only way the process works. I did my best to do my civic duty and inform the polling people of what had happened and encourage them to fix up some signage for the rest of the day.  But by that time I was pretty agitated and just wanted to vote, so I'm not sure I got my point across.  I don't know what will happen and I'll likely write a letter to the county voting commission to let them know they can do better.  I wasn't able to find an email address for them, or I would be doing that instead of writing this.

I don't think that this was intentional.  It was merely a case of election officials assuming that everyone knew there was a back entrance to the high school. I guess it's an honest mistake, but still frustrating.  I can only hope that everyone finds there way back there and doesn't just give up and go home.

So go vote, maybe you'll learn something new.  Like your local high school mascot is the blue devils (emblazoned on the gym floor), or that you have a really nice high school.  Or that the voting gatekeeper guy lives down the street...if you can get over the fact that it is a little weird that he asked what house I live in.  I'm slightly suspicious that he wouldn't have let me in if I said a certain one that has certain political signs in front of it, but maybe I was just jumpy after the locked door thing....  Hub ensures me that he was just a nice old gentleman practicing good southern manners....