Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Make Sure You Vote Today!

Southern California turns out to vote: with umbrellas and ready to wait

Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time I lined up at my voting place this morning. It took almost an hour from the time I first got to the line and when I was finished. Wow. Never having voted in the early morning before, I was surprised by the wait. In Oregon, I'd always voted by mail.

There's something appealing about gathering with other people from your neighborhood to vote, however. Black, white, Latino, multiracial (sorry, not really many Asians where I live) all coming together to cast their votes for the direction of their society. My neighbor brought along his young son to see how voting works. Voting in person makes it so much more of a communal thing--a "we're all in this together" thing. And that is what makes it worth the wait.

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