I Voted!

Living in Missouri, we had a chance to vote in a primary yesterday, February 7th, 2012.  I did my civic duty and voted, in my new voting precinct.  It was at a quaint, older church building near the western city limits of Rolla, MO.  The election workers were all friendly, welcoming me in, one gentleman held the front door open for me as I entered.  I could tell from their eagerness to assist me that they must not have had many voters so far that morning.  I proudly handed over my voter registration card that had come in the mail in the early days of December, which is when I finally got my act in gear and got registered.  The card checked out fine, and I signed my name to the voter records book, initialing my current address.  After telling the lady handling the paper ballots which one I wanted, she began to explain how to fill it in so it would be properly read and I stopped her by asking if there were any touch screen machines to vote on?  I explained that in St. Louis County, we had touch screen machines and that is what I was used to voting on.  The election workers proudly smiled and told me to look in a far off corner, there stood the one touch screen voting machine that they had for their voting site!  I smiled and said that, yes, that was what I wanted to vote with, so I was escorted to the machine and I voted.  Afterwards, I was given a “I Voted!” sticker, which I proudly wore to the grocery store, and two of the ladies asked me how did I like Rolla, compared to St. Louis.  I did say that I like Rolla, that it is quieter, and the election workers all laughed at that.  I did say it’s taken my kids a while to adjust to a smaller community.  Every now and then I will hear one of them sigh, lamenting that a mall, or zoo, or museum, or their old friends  are now 2 hours away.  Getting acclimated to a new community can be stressful and fun all at the same time.  Voting in a new community is yet another way of getting to know the area and to feel like one belongs.

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