Voting in NYC

This past week was pretty exciting. Not just here in New York, but all around the globe. With the election of Barack Obama, it's a new and different world. The sense of "change" being in the air is welcome. Obama needs to be successful if we want things to turn around in this country, so I hope that every American supports him in his new role, regardless of party affiliations.

Last Tuesday afternoon it was a cloudy 62-degree day. I went to vote at the Supreme Court building around 2:00PM, a three-minute walk from my apartment. When I saw the line wrapped around the building, I decided to come back later and instead took the bus to Red Hook to get groceries and kitty litter.

When I came back, it was almost 4:00 when I left home to vote. I told my concierge, "See you in about an hour," thinking about how long the line was earlier. But George, one of the maintenance guys, warned me that they only have two booths open at the polls. For our entire district. Wow.

So I went back to the Supreme Court and got in line outside on the Cadman Plaza side of the building. The line wasn't really that long, so I imagined being done in an hour. Meanwhile, two nice young women joined the line behind me. I overheard one of them telling her friend that when she awoke that morning it felt like Christmas. That's how thrilling the 2008 election became for many people. I admit, I got caught up in the excitement, too.

A guy who'd just voted told us it was an hour and 40 minute wait from about where we were in line. Wow! Somehow we still couldn't believe it would take that long.

Turns out that the two girls were both law students at Brooklyn Law, a school on the block across from my apartment. We started talking, and later a school teacher joined in the conversation. The four of us got along great and had a lot of fun waiting in line. The teacher had quite the stories to relate about the challenges of modern day teaching. (Like how it's the teacher who gets in trouble for verbally reprimanding a student who throws a book in her face.)

Later, the guy in front of us, also a law student, joined in too. It made the process go by faster. there was a sign up that said "No electioneering," which we found interesting. When the guy mentioned who the best candidate was for a congressional seat, we all pointed at him and accused him of electioneering, which he took in good fun. Oh, and there were TV cameras from NY1 there too. People brought their small children. Everyone was having a good time, despite the wait.

It was after 5:30 and dark (and much cooler out) by the time we got indoors to vote. Sure enough, there were only two booths. Talk about poor planning. You'd think that a city of over eight million people would know better. Good thing it's a city full of great people to meet!

It was 6:00PM before I was done voting, making the total wait two hours. That is the longest it has ever taken me to vote!

But I honestly didn't mind. There's no way I wasn't casting my ballot in an election as important as this one. Walking home afterward I was proud to be an American. I'm sure that millions of other people felt the same way on November 4th.

The next morning I was at Penn Station, getting ready to get on board the Amtrak to Alexandria, Virginia. I wanted to buy a NY Times, but they were sold out at Hudson News. The paper sell-out didn't even click with me until I was watching the local D.C. news that night--the Washington Post was in such high demand post-election day that the newspaper decided to do another run at the presses! People whose papers were stolen from their front yards were interviewed and actually laughing about it.

And a day later, the Craigslist ads for sublets druing inauguration week were piling up.

What an exciting week!