Fearing long lines and general mayhem I got to my polling place at 6:10am, where I was greeted by about 100 fellow voters drinking their coffee and reading the paper. I had brought my camera and was hoping to get some good video of madness and mob scenes. Fortunately, there was none to be had. Other than some creative parking going on in the lot, the atmosphere was calm and really quite relaxing – my polling place is a church on a nicely wooded lot. My line-mates and I joked about those ahead of us – the *way too* prepared folks with folding seats and umbrellas who got there at 5:15 (or so I heard them say). Really? You’d think they were waiting on line for BonJovi tickets or something :) I’m happy to report that once the doors opened at 6:30 the line moved steadily, such that I was outta there and on another line, at Starbucks, by 8:15. The election official at the polling place said that of some 3,000 plus registered voters in the precinct, over 1,400 had voted in the previous weeks. This reflects the statewide numbers of roughly 40% or 2.6 million registered voters making their marks before November 4th.
Armed with coffee and the desire to post some good video, I cruised the neighborhood in search of other, less fortunate precincts. There were none to be found. Parking lots were half empty, there were no outdoor lines, police officers on crowd control and traffic duty looked bored. Speaking to some volunteers, it seems that there was the pre-work crowd at first light, but by 8:30 things had thinned out considerably.
So begins the waiting game. Hopefully, 12 hours hence, the will of this nation shall be revealed. In the meantime, well, let’s see. Karl Rove is predicting Obama 338 to 200, Intrade has an Obama win at 92%, and Vegas odds are Obama -1400 McCain +600. Now, I’m not trying to jinx anything, that’s just what’s out there. Whatever may occur, I’ll be watching the results amidst the like-minded, at my sister’s Election Night party. Seeing as this is a food blog and all, here’s a list of what I’m likely to bring to said event: large chunk of Humbolt Fog, smaller chunk of Bleu de Gex, jamon serrano, finnochiona salami, anchovy stuffed olives, cheap bottle of Cava, crusty bread…ok, now I’m hungry.
