I just voted early in FL. I've been panicked over the last few days after realizing that my voter registration and my ID do not have the same EXACT name. I never use my maiden name; spelled that for everyone for 20 years, no thank you, so I use my middle name on everything. When we moved to FL 20 years ago, the drivers license bureau made me use my maiden name. So, my ID has my maiden name and my voter registration has my middle initial. It's never been a consideration until now.
I REALLY wanted to vote on November 4th. I can't really explain a tangible reason why. I guess just that I've always been part of the process on Election Day and I wanted that to continue. But after realizing the discrepancy in my ID I felt I needed to go to the Supervisor of Elections office to cast my vote, just in case of any problems. Like all of you, this election means everything to me. I am a child of the South, a child of the 60's, the daughter, sister, and mother of a veteran. I warned everyone who would listen that if I was turned away they would need bail money.
I arrived at the Supervisor's office at 9 a.m. There were about 10 people already there. I walked to the desk and handed the young lady my ID. My heart was pounding. She asked me if my address still the same. I told her it was. She had me sign and handed me my ballot.
I took the ballot into another room and blacked in the oval next to Barack's name just as solid and dark as was possible. I struggled to complete the other races through my tears. Then I fed the ballot into the machine. I walked out wiping my eyes. I stopped at the Wall of Honor (pictures of veterans from our county) I searched for the picture of the young man wearing sunglasses, in ACUs, his weapon slung over his shoulder, standing on the tarmac in Kandahar. I touched my son's face and the gentleman giving out the "I voted" stickers asked me if I knew him. I proudly replied "He's mine". He asked me to thank him for his service and I promised I would. I thanked him for working the polls and walked back to my car.
Now it really doesn't matter to me that I didn't vote on Election Day. Barack has my vote. That's all that matters.