cross posted at Darleen’s Place

Note: pictures in this post have been sized down. My own website contains thumbnails with linked full size images.

The day actually starts nicely. I get #4 off to school, decide to run a couple of errands and get my blogging corner primed and ready for the day. That’s my cat, Feathers, under my desk. She’ll be 19 y/o in Feb. I let her sleep anywhere she wants, which usually means right under my feet when I’m at the computer.

So I finally head to my polling place after 10 am PST. No long line out the door, but a nice steady stream of people going in. All the booths were full and I waited about six back after signing in (poll workers cannot ask for ID in California.) A few under 30, mostly older voters. The woman keying the voting cards for the electronic machines, Sandy, said there wasn’t the initial crush as they expected first thing in the morning, but that they were surprised at the constant stream of voters. It’s been a few years since I worked the polls, but I remember that outside of the busy morning and evening hours, the worst thing facing the poll workers is boredom. You can easily go hours between voters.

While inside everyone was rather serious. Outside people were smiling. Leaving I spotted this young woman. She was laughing and having one of her sons take her picture while pointing at her “I voted” sticker on her shirt. Hey, I’m here to get some stories so I approach her and ask if this was the first time for her voting. She smiles, “No. This is just proof for some of my friends.” She tells me she has some online friends, some of the “liberal persuasian” who contend one cannot dicuss politics unless one votes. This is her proof. I tell her that I understand, I have both a blog (I give her the name) and I had taken the day off from work to do correspondence work for the online site, Command Post. Her eyes go wide, her jaw drops “You know Michele?” “I’ve commented on her blog and exchanged a few emails.” “Wait .. you’re that Darleen? I’m Yvonne!” At which point, never having meet in the flesh, we both realize we know each other from the comment section at ASV.

We laugh, we hug, we chat about kids (she has an absolutely gorgeous 3 month old daughter) … she tells her sons to quit picking the berries off the shrubbery and pelting each other … I point across the street to the high school and tell her about #4 being a senior there. We enjoy this opportunity to talk of other things beyond the election.

I do tell her of the Bush/Cheney supporters cheering and waving to drivers at a major intersection yesterday, she tells me of similar B/C supporters at a different local intersection who were being harassed by very young thuggish Kerry supporters.

We both agree that the level of irrationality and the number of dour, hatefilled incidents has surpassed anything either of us have known. We can hardly wait for tomorrow so we can start putting this behind us.

California has never even been in play for the Kerry campaign. So what animates Kerry supporters to harass Bush supporters?

After leaving my polling place, I visited a couple others in my area and found a similar scenario; steady stream of mature voters who look calm and serious as they enter and are happy when they leave. In talking with a few others, I encounter the same attitude — relief in casting the vote and high hopes that this Season of Irrationality will pass.

One could hardly hope for a more beautiful day here. The backyard themometer reads 80, some snow clings to the surrounding mountains and the sky is a clear crisp blue. How could anyone be so pessimistic, so poisoned in attitude on a day like today?

A few miles west of my polling place, I pulled to the side of the road and took this picture of this main boulevard, lined for several miles with trees and American flags, snow-capped mountain in the distance.

Whatever tomorrow brings, The Republic will endure.