Election Day

Election Day for me this year was like voting in a developing country. I waited in line for 2 1/2 hours to exercise my civil duty. I, along with several dozen neighbors, waited to vote, many saying they wanted their vote to count this year, a year where many voters were out there to "fire the Republicans."

I liked my neighborhood when I first moved here over 10 years ago. The school district was terrible then, but we figured we wouldn't have kids in the schools for at least 5 years after we moved here, and who knows if we'd still live here then. Our neighborhood has a nice neighborhood elementary school we could walk to (which is also where we vote). Much of the neighborhood was made up of elderly white folks and some young families.

Since then, however, the neighborhood has changed. Many of the homes are now rented. The elderly neighbors have mostly moved. The young families have gone in search of better schools. Now, our neighborhood is about half black and half white. I constantly hear the sound of pumping bass coming from a car down the street. Punk kids (both black and white) walk in mini-gangs up and down the middle of the street (what's wrong with the sidewalks??) and scowl at you when you try and drive by without hitting them. Lately, I've been falling very out of love with my neighborhood.

On Election Day, I knew it was going to be a long haul for me to vote. And I was not looking forward to standing in line with my white-trash neighbors. I tried really hard not to respond to the large, white trash woman in front of me. She was big, you couldn't even see her elbows, and she was apparently a nurse, because she was wearing those cheery scrubs, scuffed up white tennis shoes, and she kept saying she hoped "the uniform store would still be open when we were done here..." She had thin, obviously dyed, reddish hair and yellow, broken teeth. She apparently knew the young couple in front of her, because they were chatting it up. In fact, a lot of people in line seemed to know each other, and it was like a mini-reunion.

Everyone was complaining about the long wait. This was our first time voting on computer machines. But no one budged from line - everyone wanted to get their vote in.

Luckily, there was a line of folding chairs for the front 25 people, so when you got up to that place in line, you could have a seat. Behind me, there was a black woman with an infant baby (1 month) and an 11-year-old boy. It was the boy's birthday, and he had to accompany mom and baby in the never-ending election line. Mom and son took turns holding the baby, and some nice folks pulled a chair out for them.

None of us thought this would take as long as it did. I arrived at 5:45pm, and finally voted at 8:15pm - 45 minutes after the polls had closed, but since we were already in line, they had to let us vote.

When I was about 6th in line, the people in front of me decided we should let the woman with the baby go in front of us. She'd been there nearly 2 hours with the little baby, and besides, it was the 11-year-old's birthday! It sucked that he had to spend his birthday this way. We all agreed this was a good idea, but I had to make a joke and said, "Next year, I'm going to bring a wrapped up baby doll so I can get in first!" The young couple chuckled, but the white trash lady in front of me didn't get it and said how she thought it was the right thing to do, blah, blah, blah...

When I was about 3rd in line to vote, a young black man, who had voted about an hour earlier and had been talking to many in line, returned. He brought two boxes of powdered donuts and a bag full of cold bottled water. It was then that I started to fall back in love with my neighborhood. He passed out the waters and started the box of donuts, and we were all grateful. He even brought paper towels! We made sure the birthday boy got one, too.

I joked again, "Thank goodness he brought this, I was starting to think about which of us we were going to have to sacrifice for food..." The youn g couple laughed heartily, but again, white trash lady didn't get it at all.

I left the voting place not only feeling proud of myself for hanging in there and being a good citizen, but also feeling a new sense of my neighborhood and my neighbors. It's so rare that we interact with each other in the days of e-mail and cable TV. We occasionally wave as we leave for work, or smile as we pass each other, or hold the door for one another at the corner store, but it's amazing how shared misery can bring people together.