My voting experince

As promised, here's my "I voted" blog post. I went right after work and got to the polling place at 7:15, right after they opened. It was busier then I have ever seen it. The line was so long that it was stretching outside the door and there was very little room to park. I managed to get a primo parking spot somehow and then I waited in line.

And waited. And waited some more. I didn't get to the sign in table until almost 8:00. After that I quickly voted, for Donald Trump and every other (R) on the ballot, and then headed home. Even though it took quite a long time, it was generally positive. I didn't see anything suspicious and I have no idea who people were voting for. Some people have been requesting that Trump voters wear red colored clothing, but if that was the case, I don't think there were all that many Trump supporters. More likely though, nobody really paid attention to that request.

Turnout was way higher then in the primary race, which was the last time I voted. That only took me 15 minutes and the crowd was way different. During the primaries the crowd trended older. I believe at the time I said that I was the youngest person there at 33 except for one woman from the local college. This time, the college students came out to vote and there were a lot of younger looking coeds. The old people were there too, but it was striking how many more young people there were this time around. And, other then one kid who looked like he just turned 18 that morning, the young people were exclusively women. Perhaps the college-aged boys didn't want to get up that early in the morning?

Considering the circumstances, I can't complain about a 45 minute  wait. The process went fairly smoothly except for all the people that forgot they weren't registered. Plus one of the poll workers knocked over the sign that showed the aldermen districts by accident. That was pretty funny I guess, but other then that it was fairly uneventful.

Besides the three coeds behind talking about college stuff, the room was also pretty quiet. Not too many people made small talk, and when they did it was about anything other then the candidates. I didn't hear a single person say who they were voting for, and people were mostly just keeping to themselves. I did see one guy in a Trump hat but he took it off before he entered the building.

Generally speaking it was a positive experience. If nothing else it showed me that people really do care about this election and, win or lose, at least people cared enough to vote. I have no idea how it is all going to turn out but my hope is that it goes as smoothly for everyone as it did for me...