Voting

I went out and voted in the primary just the other day. It was a bit of an adventure.

The sky was dark, the roads were icy, I had to get off of work early to take care of a few errands. The errands took longer than I thought, and when I was done, found that I needed a new tank of gasoline. As I pulled into the gas station and got out of my car, I realized that I was missing my credit card. I panicked and raced back to the house to get it. I turned over all the furniture, checked all my drawers, looked through all the pockets in my laundry only to find that it was in my wallet the whole time. I raced back to the gas station, braving the icy roads and heavy rains, carefully peering out of the window to see thing lane lines. I filled the tank as rapidly as possible and went off to look for the nearest polling place.

That's right, I went off to look for a polling place. I had no idea where one might be save that it was probably at one of the dozens of public schools in my area. I thought that it would probably be obvious. I was wrong. I drove around several blocks peering through the rain in vain and ended up at home at around six thirty, not having voted and having no idea what to do. The polls closed at seven.

I took to the internet and googled 'Manassas Park Polling Place,' and instantly a dozen entries popped up, all from two-thousand-six. I was disheartened. In a last ditch effort I looked up my email archives and discovered in a long lost mass email the secret: Go to the state website. Duh. In two minutes I had the location and was out the door. When I got there, there was a big sign telling voters where to park. I went in and it was nearly empty. There was no line. The people manning the election were friendly and in under a minute I had my 'My vote counted,' sticker on my windshield. I needn't tell you for whom I voted. (It was for Reagan.)