The democratic experience

I voted this morning on my way to the office. Our polling place is the elementary school a block from my house. The registration table was staffed with a number of the retired ladies from my immediate neighborhood.

After running the gauntlet of bake sale tables set up in the hallway, I was greeted by my elderly neighbors, complimented on how lovely our gardens were this year, and brought up to speed on Ray down the street who fell from a ladder over the weekend and was airlifted out to a hospital in Albany.

Voting was straightforward. We employ those amazing mechanical voting machines that look like punch card computer consoles from the 1950s. Everything seems to be made out of cast iron and the votes registered by moving little levers into a position that uncovers a preprinted red "X" next to the candidates name.

A quick "whoosh" as the lever is pulled, my vote registered and the curtains opened - the great Democratic experience is complete.

Now - the long wait begins.