Today marked the start of early voting in Florida. This is the day I have been waiting and working towards since the primaries ended in the Spring of 2008.
Due to the boneheadeness of our legislature we tried to have our primary earlier than sanctioned and got punished hard. Our votes were not going to be counted for the primary and unlike the rest of the states, we did not see Barack during the year long campaign. I guess he is making up for it now. He will be in Miami tomorrow.
There was some excitement in the air. You could feel it. Everyone was energized to vote for Barack. However, my excitement was dampened over the news by my coworker that her husband has been laid off this past weekend.
It all started like a typical day in South Florida. The sky was blue, 75 degrees weather, low humidity; a perfect day to vote for Obama. The people at work, knowing that I was an avid supporter, kept on cheering me on every time I said that I was going to go early vote today by saying VoteBama!
It was all fun until Jeanette came into my office wanting to talk. She told me while holding back tears that her husband has been laid off this past Friday.
Jeanette works at my company as a float pool secretary. She is lent to whomever needs her for the moment and may work full-time but does not have the benefits of a full-time employee. She does not have health insurance. Until today, that has not been a problem because her husband had insurance at his place of employment.
She has been sick lately and the doctor had told her that she needed surgery. The surgery is scheduled for October 29. With the news of her husband lay off, it is uncertain if she will be able to go ahead with the surgery since her husband's company is telling him that his benefits will expire within a week (October 25).
We are trying to see if my boss would hire her full-time or even part-time so that she can get the benefits needed to go ahead with the surgery. However, the economy being what it is "non-essential" employees are not on the radar for employment consideration. I have been told time and time again that a secretary was "non-essential".
Needless to say that when I went to vote today, Jeanette weighed heavily in my mind. I consider the fact that under an Obama plan, Jeanette would be able to have health insurance even if her employer did not offer it. She would not have to worry about choosing between the household bills and her health.
For Jeanette, I stayed 2.5 hours in line (although the weather was gorgeous) to vote for Obama. Something has got to change. Someone has to fight for the little guy.
On a lighter note, the 2.5 hours was my second attempt at waiting in line. The first attempt, after 20 minutes I had to go to the restroom and told some guy who must have been a McCain supporter to hold my spot while I went to take care of business. When I came back he had left and I ended up having to go to the back of the line. However I was then surrounded with Obama supporters who thought my experience was quite funny. Moral of the story: 1) Go to the polls with your friends. Beside getting them to the polls, they will hold your spot if you have to go. 2) Don't ever trust a McCain supporter to do you a favor.
Early voting in Florida runs from October 20 to November 2. The times available for early voting vary by counties. You can find out your times and location if you live in Miami-Dade county here and if you live in Broward county here