My Early Voting Experience

I used to be one of those ill-informed people who thought that people who early voted did so because of some infirmity. They had special permission to cast their ballot early, I thought, so as to avoid long lines and confusion on Election Day.

Not so, not so. Anyone can early vote. Go here to find out where you can go and vote early and free up your Saturday this May 14th, which is Election Day.

I love my early voting location. I go to early vote at the Aliana Clubhouse. Not because it is close to me or convenient to me, but because I like to vote there. And I like the poll workers who man that poll from year to year.

This is true. Voting takes me very little time. I know exactly who I am going to vote for when I go in, and am very adept at spinning that wheel and pressing the “Enter” button. My 3 favorite poll workers have remarked in the past that I am the fastest voter they have ever seen. So why, then, does it take me an hour to vote?

Well it’s because very few people show up to vote at the Aliana Clubhouse. It is, literally in the middle of a treeless plain at the corner of Bissonet and FM 1464. Yesterday, I see that a total of 5 people stopped in to vote at the Aliana Clubhouse. I was voter number 5. Things go rather slowly in that room in the Aliana Clubhouse. So when I go there to vote I stop and talk with my 3 favorite poll workers for at least an hour. They remember me from one year to the next and I remember them.

We know each other’s stories.

I look forward to elections and vote in every one that I can. Not only because I fervently believe that it is the duty of every citizen to vote, but because I like talking to my 3 favorite poll workers.

We talk about everything. We talk about issues in education because they know that I am a teacher. We talk about issues in real estate because I know that two of them are retired real estate agents. We talk about testing because I know that the 3^rd poll worker’s spouse works in that area. We talk about our children. We talk about the economy. We. Just. Talk.

Voting is a civic duty. But voting can also be fun.