I am happy to know it is almost over. No more phone calls all hours of the day and night to vote for XYZ or going to the mail box to find it overflowing with 3 of every campaign flyer that made our box that day. One day I had 15 flyers. I hope that some friendships I know of have a chance to heal after this very high pressure election now.

Yesterday being a good employee I notified my boss my plans to vote in the morning and may cause me to be late. He gave me a look that I never want to see again. He told me that we cannot have the whole office coming in around 11. That I should go after work and as long as I am in line before 7 o’clock in the evening I could vote. He told me I should have taken advantage of the early voting like he did. He stopped on his way home one night. It took him about an hour. Well not everyone was going in the morning. In fact out of six women in my department only two of us where voting. MP, who was planning to go after work, you guessed it ME! I looked at him and wanted to scream. I did stop a couple of times by the early voting offices and the lines where so long. The people in the middle of one of the lines had been waiting for over an hour when I had asked. I cannot do the evening because I have to get my school age children ready for bed. Standing in line to vote all night just won’t get it done.

With my right to vote I took the chance of being docked pay along with a possible write up in my file. I was up at 5:15 am. Made it to our clubhouse just after 6 o’clock where voting would begin at 7 am like everywhere else. Being a responsible person (along with not wanting to be late) I counted the people in line. Found I was fiftieth in line. So I did some math to get an idea how long it may take me. Praying it took an average of less than 10 minutes per person. I might get out of here around 8 o’clock. That would give me time to get to work and not be late.

What I did not except was the next set of lines I was directed to. We had to line up alphabetical of sorts (A-G, H-O, & P-Z). I laughed and grabbed hubby’s hand heading to our line thinking this should be a piece of cake. I thought we have a white name, not a Hispanic name like Perez or Rodriguez (remember I live in Miami, FL). Boy was I wrong. We were not only in the longest it was the slowest. As the other two lines emptied and filled again we patiently waited our turn. Watching people who arrive walk right in and we did not even move.

Finally it became A-G turns. They came to take the next ten. Would you know I was 10 and hubby was 11. Thank GOD. They let us go together. When we walked thru the door we saw even more lines.

I still stand by the slowest line. We had two sweet older women processing this line. The one looking up names could not see. The one verifying the addresses could not hear. DUH!! The reason our line was so long and slow. Wait they cannot find my name but my husbands. “Ok, do his now. Since you found his name take care of him”. It was almost too much for them to handle. While there were two other lines with one young efficient person processing quickly.
Mine name was as I thought under my maiden name. I swear I had fixed that the last two major elections. I pray the third time is the charm. At least now I know why so much mail came in that name. I was fearful of identity fraud.

It turns out we had to stand in six lines to complete our voting procedure. Plus a bonus for me to address the name issue.

Two and a half hours. I was a bearly 15 minutes late. In my department that might be thought of as on time if I had been anyone but me.

Today is a very important day in our history. I made my mark in it. I hope you took the chance to enjoy your freedom of choice. What will tomorrow and the future bring only GOD knows. I pray it is a safe and free county, not at war and growing in wealth for everyone. Especially the families like yours and mine.