Empowered Voters

I must say that I was surprised when I went to my polling place on election day. I had heard the stories that there would be long lines and hour long waits.....I just didn't believe it.

I have been voting since I was 18. I have never had to wait to vote. Go in, chit chat with the poll workers, have a cup of joe and then mosey over to the punchcard ballot machine and do my thing.......

Boy how things have changed! Yes, still have those damn punchcard ballots......yes, still need to check to be sure there are no hanging chads (god, I felt stupid- but I didn't want to take the chance that my vote wasn't going to count.) but wow......I had to wait, in a LINE today! 45 minutes later, I was even more EMPOWERED....just talking to folks that I didn't know about how excited they were about this election...we were all on different sides, and some people still were unsure of who they were going to vote for......I, of course, took this as my DUTY to talk about my views.....

This one young lady in her 20s was voting for the first time...but didn't know who she was going to vote for, she really just figured she would go in and decide right then and there....that wasn't good enough for me....I had 45 minutes to kill, so I thought, what the HELL if I can get her to vote for Kerry...then that's one less vote for Bush. So we started to chit-chat.

We talked about the typical stuff: war in Iraq, oil prices, domestic issues, heathcare, etc.....and she still didn't know what to do....So I decided to pull out the big guns! I asked her if she understood that besides all of these VERY IMPORTANT facts, that the President who is in power over the next four years will most likely be appointing 4 justices to the Supreme Court.

The lady had no idea. I told her that depending on where she stood on issues such as privacy, abortion, gay rights, pornography, moral issues.......The Court would be forever changed (and our lives forever changed) by the decision the next President makes on appointments. I told her that this......Was the most important reason to make the CORRECT choice.

We talked for a few more minutes and then she sighed....I am so relieved! I am glad we talked...I know who I need to vote for........And she smiled.

I was dying for her to tell me.......But she just kept smiling........I began to wonder, should I just come out and ASK her? So that is exactly what I did....

She said, I wish that someone would have told me about the issues with the Supreme Court sooner than right now....That would have made my decision that much easier.....But there are issues that I am concerned about that are always presented before the Supreme Court and I can't take the chance that my vote for President helped to put a justice on the Court that doesn't match my beliefs....(to this I got a bit scared...! Did I unintentionally swing a vote for Bush?????) .....She smiled at me again, and said, you know, my brother is gay....And he's been in a relationship for over 10 years, and he wants to get married....I want him to be able to get married...I'm voting for Kerry....

Alas, my troubled heart had skipped a beat...I had done my civic duty and turned an undecided voter towards the light.........

I am happy.... I am empowered...... I only hope that this election fires Bush.... Guess we will know soon enough!