I Voted -- did you? (with apologies to the non-USAdians present)

Thanks to lunaris_ for the icon. And it was lovely to get in this morning and open up my LJ friends-page and see such a long string of "I just got back from voting" entries! Go you!

Silly me, I got up this morning thinking "I'll just pop over and vote on my way to work." And ended up waiting in line almost an hour! Wow. It's a good thing I fed Isaac before we left, and brought a toy, or things could have gotten ugly. Luckily, the nice chick behind us in line agreed to hold our place, so I let Isaac roam around the lot while I followed behind and tried to keep him from walking into people's legs, picking up random stuff off the ground, etc. We were the waiting-to-vote entertainment for a large number of people. ;)

Finally we got inside, and voted, and Isaac devoured a Munchkin that the polling place staff gave him, and then we were in the car and it was a good thing I happened to have a bag of bagels handy for him to chew on en route to daycare. Whew.

My old polling place never had a line! Of course, I never went there for a presidential election, but I also don't remember there being such a long line when I voted in my mom's precinct in 2000. (I had just moved out of mom's place but hadn't gotten around to changing my registration.) At the place today, I saw my friend J who has lived there and voted there for several years, and she said the line was way longer than usual, but she didn't vote there in 2000 either so who knows.

Anyway, I'm not complaining! High voter turnout is a GOOD thing, even in a foregone-conclusion state like Massachusetts. As skreeky pointed out, if we help to keep Bush from winning the popular vote, we can at least retain a shred of dignity.

I'm not going to say anything about what I think is going to happen, because I honestly have no idea. I don't have a "feeling" either way. I have an overall feeling of anxiousness and dread, but that's as much about the inevitable legal challenges and ugliness, as it is about the actual result itself. I'm relieved, at least, that I've done all I can do now and there's nothing left but to sit back and chew my fingernails and see what happens.

But first, some caffeine.

tension

I am so tense right now. I can't take this. I know the big swing states aren't in yet, it's still anyone's game, but I don't have a good feeling about this. I think I'm going to bed. And I'm not looking forward to waking up tomorrow....