Election Day in Idaho

There has been so much going on on all fronts, between work, temple/church, election, guys etc.

I apologize for bombarding you with the last bit. Bof. It's annoying. I just don't have anyone to talk to about it. The people I associate with (aka my sisters and best friend) understand all of the other stuff. However, when it comes to guys, they say just pick one. I really wish it were that easy.

Anyways. I want to talk election.

This was my first time voting in a state other than Virginia, and woo-wee was it an interesting experience.

Y'see, for the past month or so, I've been trying to figure out where I needed to go to register to vote. The idea of registering in-person on election day did not make sense to me. Surely there was an alternative. The people that I asked had no idea. One said, "Well, voter turnout isn't very high in Idaho." (I'm guessing he was one of the ones that doesn't vote.) No matter.

Everyone seemed to think I could just register and vote all at one time. So, anxiously, I waited for election day to see if that truly were the case. It was; but the experience was a bit disconcerting.

I looked up my polling location online. (Oh! and polls didn't open until 8am. weird.)

After work, I made my way over to the polling place, armed with my ID and a bill with my address. I walked in the door to the school, and was immediately met with a couple of tables set up to check in, and if you turned around you were two steps from the ballot submission booths.

There was a short line (so I literally only crossed the thresh hold of the door)...only no one was sure what they were in line for. The first table--though the label was on the bottom of the table--was to register, and abutting it further up the hall was the table to pick up your ballot. It was not clearly marked, nor were there people directing voters where they should go.

Well, I get to the registration table, and the lady gives me a short form to fill out. She asked, "Is this your polling place?" I said, "According to the internet, yes." When I returned with the form, she checked to make sure my address was Idaho, and that my face was on my ID, had me write my name on another paper, then sent me off to get a ballot from the next table.

...By my estimation, I could have shown up to any polling place and voted. Heck, I probably could have voted in a couple of different places! (If I were dishonest, but I'm not.)

I'm not a fan of registering on-site because there is so much room for error and corruption. Plus! My family was telling me what number vote they were--because their precincts have registration deadlines, so they know how many people could come through their polls--and I said...I voted.

Oh, well. I was able to vote. I did my duty.

Out of all of the years I've been eligible to vote, the only election I didn't vote in was 2010. I have one friend who is almost 70 years old, and this was her first non-presidential election that she participated in. ...that reminds me of the people I heard talking--this was back east--who thought elections only happened every 4 years. *mind blown*

I was a little apprehensive about the results of this election, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Hooray! :)

...I would still like to help better organize the polling experience here. See, that's what I'd rather do than teach. I'd like to streamline and organize processes. Weird, huh?