I did my patriotic duty, I VOTED

With many thanks to all of our forefathers for fighting to give me the right to VOTE, and today I took advantage of that right and did my civic duty and voted.

And the really funny thing, I didn't vote early, I voted on VOTING DAY. I never really understood early voting. Now I do understand absentee voting, for those who cannot vote on ELECTION DAY, but early voting, nope the concept escapes me totally.

Everyday the lines for the early voting went on and on and on. And these people (now mind you I am absolutely thrilled that they did exercise their right to vote) stood in these longs lines for hours, in the burning Fla. sun or in the Fla. rain showers. They had their books, magazines, I-Pods, and most even carried their own CHAIR, yes their own CHAIR. At first I thought when I saw the lines was that they were giving something away, or maybe a celebrity was coming to town, or they were raffling off the lottery numbers, but no these people were in the long long lines to early vote in order to avoid the long waits on ELECTION DAY.


So now I am awfully grateful for the person who invented early voting (I heard a rumor that it was Al Gore, right after he invented the internet), as today when I drove to my voting precinct I presented my i/d, verified my address, signed for my ballot, walked to the voting booth (with my choice of three empty booths), filled in my ballot by completing the arrow with my already provided black marker pen, placed my completed ballot cards into the voting machine which sounded like the victory music at the end of a video game, and this whole process took less than 5 minutes (of course I had already reviewed my sample ballot mailed to me prior to voting, so my choices were pre-determined, and well-thought out I might add). No lines. Or as a more popular catch-phrase goes "No fuss no muss".

So as I anxiously await to see who our new governor will be, or what amendments have passed or been rejected, I take a moment to be proud of being an American, of having the right to choose and voice my opinion, no matter how small (or big) of an opinion I may have. Please take a moment and thank a veteran who gave this right to us all, and be grateful for what we now enjoy, FREEDOM FOR ALL.