I awoke early at 5:30am to get ready for the election. Though election day was not a fashion show, I could not show up dawdy looking because if Barack got elected, I could not had told my children that I was in wrinkled garb! Like Sheryl Underwood said on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Initially I was going to wear my silver turtleneck with matching slacks but after watching the weather report, I changed to wearing my Ann Taylor sweater. Hey I got to put on the good stuff!
Walking to my polling place at 6:58am, there was a line around the corner past M Street, the Union Club and a couple of embassies. Initially I thought that I would be finished by 10am enabling me to still complete all of my daily tasks. Immediately upon my arrival, two more men came and we discussed everything: the election, where we came from and previously voted (I voted in Virginia and Ohio and one man voted in Florida), and debated voter fraud (Though one man asserted that there was fraud on both sides. I disagreed because when Republicans proclaim voter fraud that was a dig towards black people. They feared our high turnout so they said these people were more susceptible to voter fraud!), and the DC metro area (One man exclaimed that though he liked residing in Wisconsin, he was an East Coast dude now. Even with the snow I could not see myself abandoning Cleveland. It was my birthplace and I had not morphed into this big time person enough to move on from it! It was too hard to shelve 28 years of my life over career progress!).
Though I heard many blacks' retelling how emotional it was to cast their ballots for Barack, the spirit did not well up in me because I had been voting for 12 years. Though a viable black presidential candidate was new, exercising my full franchise was not. So I waited in line for thirty-five minutes then a man asked me if my last name was between I and L, I replied yes, he instructed me to head into the church where I verified my address (I took my voter identification card just in case there was a mix-up. www.barackobama.com listed my Virginia address and polling place in its reminder email), took the blue ticket stub and waited in line to vote.
The DC electronic voting process was different than the Ohio and Virginia punch card balloting. I took this huge sheet of paper, penciled in the arrow for the candidate of my choice then waited in another line to feed it into this electronic feeder which read my vote! The elderly woman volunteered shouted at us to stand behind the line. I told the lady in front of me that she was a retired school teacher who commandeered her charges in one single-file line against the lockers!. She called my name and I fed my paper ballot into the electronic voting machine. Exiting the church I was rejuvenated to see the long lines because all of them are voting for Barack Obama.
Entering my apartment building to I talked to the front desk lady about casting my vote. I told her the reason why I finished early was because my last name was Jenkins. She replied that was the shortest line. Her surname started with a B then the lightbulb went off that she had to stand in line with all of the people named Brown and Black. Right after that my apartment I turned on my TV to see CNN and watch Senator Barack Obama cast his ballot!
As a native Clevelander I virtually despise the Pittsburgh Steelers until learning that if the Washington Redskins won Monday Night Football McCain would win. In 17 out of 17 elections since their existence, if the Redskins won the incumbent's nominee would win but if the team lost, the challenger's nominee would win. All of a sudden black and gold ran through my veins. It just happened that the Steelers won serving as a good omen not only for Barack but for the Democrats winning Pennsylvania's 15 electoral votes!
I have bought an extension chord to create a personal multimedia center by linking my tv, computer and radio. Having taken off election day because I am on detail in Virginia but my precinct is in Washington, DC, I want to hear the Tom Joyner Morning Show wire-to-wire right after casting my ballot bright and early 7am. Immediately upon returning to my apartment, I am logging onto www.barackobama.com to share my voting experience and encouraging people to turn out. It's essential to have a three-prong multimedia feed going because there's an abundance of lies and misinformation to combat. And what better way than to create my own news center?
Though I have been contributing to the campaign effort in DC, this is my first time in Virginia. Around here in the DC metro area, a big deal is made in turning Virginia blue. Mark Warner, the popular governor, is expected to win retiring Republican John Warner's senatorial seat. Furthermore, more than one million people have relocated to this area; and, many of these transplants, including yours truly, are democratically leaning. We are vastly different than residents which is the reason behind Warner's gubernatorial win.
I did not anticipate such chaos. Finally I found the location but the precinct captain was later than I was then the organizers had two pow wows over some measly flyers! After slipping non-partisan flyers underneath the doors at the at the first apartment. I notified the supervisor that I had to volunteer at a DC phone bank at 3pm. At least there are four other volunteer events that I signed up for else I would had thought that I failed Barack to make a difference. Regardless of what the polls said, this was crunch time and it was not over until it was over; therefore, I donated my time and money towards promoting Obama as this nation’s best person to assume the presidency on January 20, 2009!
