I voted early yesterday and the feeling of unity was more exhilarating than I could have ever expected. The long lines of all different kinds of people, the laughing, the chatter, and the complete calmness that I saw was unbelievable. (Guess being from NY, people aren’t usually that patient in line, they fuss and complain normally. Didn’t see that at all.) I brought a book to read, because I heard the waits were averaging two to four hours. Well, turns out I didn’t have to read one page out of my book!

Although, it was my intention to stay quiet and patiently wait in line…it was next to impossible, because of the bubbling energy surrounding me. Judy, the consignment shop owner, really expressed a lot of fired up energy and super-charged my little crowd sharing why she was voting and who she was voting for. Then there was down to earth Chris, the marine biology college major; Gina, a spunky school teacher and Louise retired sweet heart stood in line as we bonded together. The 90 minutes flew by, thanks to good conversation and the cool shade of Judy’s monster size umbrella that protected us from the blazing sun. (Much love to Judy on that note!)

Aside from being different, races, backgrounds, religions…we were all voting for the same party. (Something I was taught not to discuss in polite company. ~a-hem~ But it all came out eventually.) However that’s not the only thing that bonded us together, as much as it was the absolute confusion about various amendments we also had to vote on.

While in line, we were handed a breakdown of amendments from a security guards that were going to be on our voting ballots. Now, I consider myself at least moderately intelligent. LOL The rest of the crowd said they felt most of them were college educated, can read and comprehend normally…but eh, why did we ALL have to read each amendment about three times before it made ‘slightly’ any sense? Some I found out were written in the 1900’s so that explains that issue.

We all laughed about it and then realized how unfair these things were written. Think about the average person who might not have the greatest education or reading level. I would guess they are using that familiar technique that we all know and love like, errr… eeny, meeny, miny, moe!

My “in line” buddy Chris even joked, “Imagine in a year from now, there some new crazy law that is passed and then we’ll say ~As he slaps his forehead~ ‘Ah man, I think I voted for that!’”

The ladies in line behind us chimed in and said they found out the layman’s translation online at the Sun Sentinel (Florida paper).

Two minutes later, Chris whips up the page on his Blackberry and kindly read off the plain English version of that mumbo jumbo legalese. It was pretty hilarious to see the group of people shouting things like…
“What did number one mean?”
“Oh no, but I’m for gay marriage, so I’m voting yes.”
“Does putting yes, mean you are FOR it or against it. It’s so freakin’ confusing!”
“What did you put for amendment number 6?”
“Is that for taxing my house?”
“Let me see your paper!”

After we were able to get some clarity it really made us think why some less uneducated people probably don’t vote at all. It’s very intimidating, especially with paper ballots, since we were early voting. Any wonder why someone with a 5th grade reading level might be shaking in their boots from embarrassment to fill out a ballot. It was absolutely eye-opening folks.

If you are early voting which I hope you are, please make sure you look up your state’s amendments beforehand. Many are very old and here’s an example of the absurdity of them…

I want to say thanks again and give a “give a shout out” to my ‘in line crew’ (Judy, Gina, Louise, and Chris) who made my 90 minutes wait an uplifting, pleasurable and fun experience. I felt like singing we are the world on my way home. LOL

ROCK THE VOTE EVERYONE…This election is too important not to.
Own Your Power,
Simone