This title isn't writing itself, y'know
Posted by: Liz | From: November 07, 2006
Seriously? Only Mike has seen "The Prestige?" I was hoping for more of a lively discussion there.
Happy voting day. Or end of voting day. I had to wait on line for an hour and a half (in the midst of a 20-minute period where the server for all of Denver was down and the lines weren't moving at all). After all the waiting, it was pretty easy. They had some new weird machine that had glowing green arrows and a giant yellow button to press at the end. Not quite as satisfying as pulling a big lever, but what it lacked in drama it made up for in technological superiority. Here's my secret: pulling the lever always felt a little like pushing that button at the crosswalk. Impressive and mechanical, but not entirely convincing.
It was in the 70s today, so standing around in the sun wasn't so bad. Plus all the pro-votey people were out in swarms, giving people bottles of water, encouraging us to stick it out, and driving end-of-line people to other voting locations (you can vote anywhere in Denver! No specific districts at all! You check in with a lady on a computer and then the voting machine is magically set up to allow you to cast votes appropriately). I saw saw two people I knew once upon a time. One girl I went to high school with who is decidedly more of a lesbian than the last time I saw her, and a guy I dated for about 5 minutes. They were those awkward kind of meetings where you haven't seen each other in years and years, but you are really only passing each other briefly in line and are also surrounded by hundreds of strangers who are all bored out of their skulls and dying for someone to start talking about something interesting so they can eavesdrop a little to pass the time. I wonder if I'll see either of them again.
Denver's been like that for me: I keep expecting to run into people I know every time I turn around, which of course doesn't happen that often. So on one hand I'm always surprised when I'm at a large gathering and there isn't a lurking someone I went to camp with, and on the other, I'm always caught off guard when they do show up. You always want to be that better, brighter version of yourself than they remember.
Am I the only one who really distrusts the voting computers? I had the big red lever and a truly pleasant voting experience. Thank you, 57th district volunteers!
Posted by: Real Girl at November 8, 2006 09:52 AM
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denver is a lot like that for me too. it seems like i have a few friends who know everyone, everywhere we go.
this is the first election that you could vote anywhere. thus the computer failures, thus the two hour waits.
Posted by: hubs at November 8, 2006 01:19 AM