Voting Day in Queens

So the missus and I got up, and before we did anything else (yes, even you, coffee), we went to vote. We live across the street from our polling place, and we got there a couple of minutes before 6:00am.

There was a line! A long line! Around-the-block long! It was like Best Buy on Black Friday! A ticket booth for a Van Halen concert! Toilet paper handouts in the Soviet Union!

Usually when I vote in my precinct, the old ladies (always old and always ladies) complain about the small turnout. Today, my favorite poll worker was clearly getting panicked by the long lines and kept peeking into the curtain to make sure everyone was getting along OK in the machines. Well, Old Lady, that's probably not protocol.

Today also featured the Oldest Lady I've Ever Seen in Person. She was the Republican representative. There just aren't many Republicans in Queens, so she's probably the youngest volunteer they could find to offer balance at the polls. But man, the Oldest Lady I've Ever Seen in Person was very old. Her penmanship, however (she was the one writing voter names on official voting cards), was stellar. Not like the $2 check I once got from my Great Aunt Ruth, with her very cute, very shaky handwriting.

Even with the long lines, voters looked happy. Everyone seemed pleased to see the turnout, and voters in line smiled at me because I was probably smiling without even realizing it.

Why was I smiling? I just voted for a black dude for president! A black dude! President!