exhale

It's 4:34 in the morning.

I'll give a full report of my election judge experience soon, but last night, while there was no long line out the door as the polls closed at 7pm, our district had 76% voter turnout overall.

When you think that an average turnout is normally less than 30%, you could feel that people really wanted to be heard this year.

I live 2 blocks from my polling place and I was home by 8:30pm. After starting my day at 3:50am, I was exhausted. Too tired to cook dinner or even wait to order take-out, I was watching some of the returns, but my signal was being scrambled. Someone with a ham radio or something was screwing up my analog reception.

When I finally shut off the TV at 9:30pm, Obama was at 200, McCain at 124.

The pundits were saying "too close to call" in more states than I was ready to think about, so, I crawled into bed and tried to sleep.

I tossed and turned and think I finally fell asleep about 11:30. I thought about turning on the tv a few times, but I guess I was too nervous of a 2000 repeat - that they wouldn't be able to call it. I just pulled the covers over my head and tried to rest.

So, it's 4:3o in the morning, and I woke up. My knee and back are killing me. Probably from a lack of getting more than 4 hours sleep at a go the last few days, along with sitting in a craptastic chair for nearly 14 hours straight.

So I thought...hell with it. It's time to see.

Pennslyvania. Ohio. Virginia and omg...Florida.

And I just started bawling. I'm so relieved, so happy, so proud of the millions who turned out to vote. So thrilled that the majority of them seek to embrace new leadership. Amazed at folks like Geo who drove to Indiana to get out the vote. Still so stunned that 55 million folks still thought the other party was worthy of their vote. But, mostly, just relieved and grateful that a new page in the history of our country is turning.


"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."