Didja vote yet?

Up through last week, I thought early voting was for people who *needed* to vote early because they were planning major surgery or a trip out of the country or something equally as catastrophic that there was simply no possibility they could exercise their rights in this great country on the appointed election day.

Boy, how wrong I was!

Early voting is now for anyone for any reason. And there's a whole lot of people doing it. The lines have been wrapped around the early voting sites all week with waits of several hours in many places. It's nutso. But, I can definitely see the upside to being able to go vote when it's most convenient for you. Like when your husband volunteers to work from home and watch the kids while you go sit in one of those long lines.

After lunch today, I sentenced one child to a nap and the other to schoolwork and left them with their dad while I went in search of the senior center with "twice as many voting machines". The line just to get into the parking lot was long and there were parks & recs workers guiding traffic so we could all park. The line of people was stretched along the sidewalk, but it was moving pretty quickly. As we waited, there was one person handing out democratic voting guides, one person asking for votes for a democratic candidate, and two republican candidates for local office greeting people in line. I figured since there wasn't much else to do, I talked to all of them. I talked to another homeschool mom who brought her daughter with her. I went inside and brought back voter guides for everyone around me. Before I knew it, I was inside and signing in. I had brought my super-enormous travel mug full of iced tea and the lady behind the table stared at it incredulously, declared it the biggest cup she had ever seen, and commented, "I bet you've killed a few trees in your lifetime."

Um..huh?? Hello? I'm being environmentally conscious with my reusable cup, thankyouverymuch. She was very weird.

Anyway, I voted and was back outside with my "I Voted Early" sticker all in less than an hour from the time I parked. Not bad, and now I don't have to worry about Tuesday. No watching the weather, no making sure I had childcare or entertaining kids in line, no worrying how long the lines might be.

If you have a little time over the next couple of days, I highly recommend this early voting thing. It's not just for catastrophes anymore.