Oh yeah...

I wanted to tell my election day story. It's a little late, but I kind of forgot about it until I saw someones post on election day stuff.

Anyway so here we go:

I went down with Zach's grandma (just as a reminder, we live with them). We got there just before 7am. There was already a line, but not bad.

I had brought a million documents with me to try and prove who I was. Let me explain. I don't have a California drivers license, only a Texas one, but it still has my maiden name on it because I have not been back to Texas since just after our honeymoon. I don't want to get a California one because I have to take a written drivers test. I brought my new social security card that had my correct name on it as well.

So I get in and tell the lady my name. She looks twice and can't find it. She tells me it's not on the list; and I have to go see some guy (who is really old to be helping out.) I would guess he was at least in his 70's. So he gives me a provisional ballot to fill out. While I am doing this another lady proceeds to ask me if I registered. I told her yes (although I did wait until the last day it could be post marked), but still, I did register.

So I get it all filled out and then the old man tells me, "Take it over the the colored man so he can help you." Yes... you read correctly. I almost couldn't believe he said that, but then again I am from the south and know that older generations were raised to speak the way. It is just a little out of the expected here.

So I took my info over to the man and he informed me of how to mark the ballot. So I did, double checked it, and brought it over to another guy to find out what to do next. He told me to put the ballot through this feeder. It then went into a box that had a sign on it that said something like, "Your ballot is safe here."

After this I ask the man (who gave me instruction about where to place the ballot) what the difference was between my provisional ballot and the regular ones. At that moment he said something like, "Oh, you had a provisional ballot? That wasn't supposed to go in there." I thought really, could go anymore wrong?

So then he asks if I can wait a minute, and I say yes. He pulls out a little booklet that says "What to do if..." on the front. So I continue to wait. Then he and the other guy talk about where the hot line phone number is that he can call to find out what to do. I continue to wait. So he calls and gets the answer. He tells me that it is ok and he is just supposed to write on my other documents that my ballot is with the normal ones.

So in the end it was all ok. Really I like to think that because my ballot was mixed in with the normal ones it was actually counted and helped to elect the next president of the United States. Otherwise it would have been unnecessary to count since California was way for Obama.

Next time I am going to be ready much more in advance that way my name will be on the list, and I won't have all these problems.

Thanks for reading :)