At 6:36 am, I cast my vote for Barack Obama & Joe Biden, Mark Warner, and Anita Hartke at my precinct in Richmond, Virginia.
I'd never voted at the precinct before -- in 2004 I voted absentee, I re-registered at my college address in 2005 & 2006, and I lived in Charlottesville during the primaries. My mom, whose been voting at this precinct for years, swears that in 2004 she was the 98th person to vote -- at 5:30 pm. In other words, the precinct has never been too busy, and she's never had to wait in line.
Well not this year. I got to the precinct at 5:57, a sweatshirt thrown on over my Obama t-shirt, and was greeted by a full parking lot and huge line.
People were pretty quiet in line, either staying silent or talking quietly to whoever they came with. Still, I didn't want to hear any McCain supporters so I put on my iPod and listened to Yes We Can on repeat until I got inside. The crowd was racially mixed, probably close to 50-50.
I was the 85th person to vote. I stared at my ballot for at least a minute, double and triple checked it, hit the "vote" button, and immediately teared up. There were at least 40 more people in line as I was leaving. No major problems as far as I can see.
Mark my words -- Virginia is going blue.