A Civic Duty

I voted today.

I did my civic duty sometime around 11 a.m., about an hour after arriving outside Coral Tower, the NYU dorm on 3rd Avenue that hosts (in its basement) some of the East Village election districts. (I'm a resident of the 57th District, myself.)

I can report that the line, while beginning down the block and slightly around the corner, moved quickly. I can further report that the good citizens in line were quite pleasant, resigned to the important task at hand. Some of them even greeted one another as if they were old friends. (Who says New Yorkers don't know their neighbors?)

The election workers, at least as of that late morning hour, seemed like they had a handle on things. I am very pleased to report that the young man working the 57th District table was wearing a Steelers #86 jersey (with a Yankees cap). I wanted to tell him "Go, Steelers!" but he was working on the "A - L" side of the table.

The only grump present was an older man with white hair and a trim white beard wearing a Sundance Film Festival hat. He complained repeatedly that there was no straight party lever and that he would have to "click" each of his chosen candidates' names. "I'm just going to vote for all the Democrats," he said in his cranky old man voice.

I wanted to turn around and point out to this man the utter stupidity of straight-party voting. But, still fighting that bout of food poisoning, I knew I wasn't at the height of my debating abilities.

Plus, I was loathe to create any tension in an operation that seemed to be running so steadily -- especially considering the potential drama of the historic day.

The image above is from here.