Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2004 - 8:28 a.m.
I'm going in a little late to work today, so here's just a quick note. I'll write more the poll work later.
Things went beautifully in the precinct I worked at yesterday. We had over 75% turnout. People were lined up out the door, across the parking lot, and down the street into a park, but they were mostly cheerful, proud, accepting. Two machines broke, but we kept churning voters through. I do not think I disenfranchised anyone. So I met my goal as a poll worker: I did not personally perpetrate any bullshit.
But after 13.5 hours, I got home and fell very asleep after two beers. I was out, right there on the couch, snoring before the polls were even closed on the West Coast. And this morning I wake up to a very scary result. For all my fears of something going wrong at my polling place, it turns out I should have been worrying about the more basic question of where I got all my optimism about Kerry winning cleanly. I was so sure. I mean, my Republican relatives voted for Kerry. I suspect John McCain secretly voted for Kerry. Our president is a crook.
Seriously, what? WHAT? What happened? And what the fuck do we do now?