I am sitting in a training room on the 10th floor of 200 Varick Street waiting for my absentee ballot. I am a few blocks from the heart of the West Village, an area no doubt considered by Sarah Palin, Nancy Pfoetenhauer and others to be the un-American part of this country. We are only a short distance from Ground Zero as well (I will ask McCain's running mate and his spokes-blonde whether our proximity to that shrine / Republican talking point makes me and my fellow citizens assembled here any more Americany, if I ever have the misfortune of meeting either of them).
It is pretty simple, just fill out an application for a ballot if you will be away on Election Day (I plan on being in OH or PA to monitor polls - time to finally put that law degree to good use!)
You can elect to receive the ballot by mail, but I would rather leave nothing to chance (I've seen Newman on "Seinfeld", I don't trust NYC mailmen any farther than I can throw them).
There are about 50 of us here waiting for our ballots, folks of all different race, age, color, and national origin as one might expect in this beautifully diverse city. People are pretty patient considering many of them are not blogging away on an IPhone to amuse themselves.
The moment of truth arrives. They call my name. I get the ballot.
I have taken many Scantron tests in my life, where you bubble in answers with a number 2 pencil. The Iowa tests, the PSAT, the SAT, the LSAT, various exams in elementary school, intermediate school, high school, college, and law school. In all of those tests, I have never once gotten emotional when filling in one of those little ovals. But yesterday I almost came to tears when I filled in this one:
If you haven't voted yet, and you are like me, you have suffered through 8 years of Bush and have waited for this moment when you could cast your vote for the man who will put an end to this mess and bring our country back to its former glory, then you will likely feel the same emotions when you finally get to sock it in for the ticket that is going to make our amazing nation great once more.
As I handed in my ballot I overheard some ladies chatting in the front of the room and they were fixin' to volunteer in a swing state as well, which is why they were voting absentee.
A few hours later I made some phone calls to Ohio and got some good responses. The highlight was a 91 year old woman named Ethel. The conversation went something like this:
ETHEL: Hello?
ME: Hi is this Ethel?
ETHEL: Yes, this is she.
ME: Hi, my name is Bob, I'm calling for the Barack Obama campaign, how are you doing?
ETHEL: Oh, I am fine.
ME: I just have to ask a couple of questions, who are you supporting in the upcoming election, John McCain or Barack Obama.
ETHEL: Oh, Obama. Who are you voting for?
ME: Oh, well I just voted for Obama today.
ETHEL: Oh, that's good.
ME: And I have to let you know, you can vote early in Ohio, either by mail or in person.
ETHEL: Oh, well I already voted last week!
ME: Oh wow, that's great. Well can I ask you to volunteer a little bit and tell all of your friends to vote for Barack?
ETHEL: Oh, I will.
Called about 20 voters today, quite a few were wrong numbers. I assume that they were folks with cellphones who discontinued their landline service, probably something they wouldn't have done if the economy were treating them well (probable Obama supporters if they ascribe to the blame those currently in charge for the economy school of thought). Got a couple of hang-ups, although they may have thought I was asking for money, perhaps that is a flaw in the script. And I through to 3 other Obama supporters, 1 African American woman, and two other white folks. Everyone I called tonight was in the suburbs of Cincinnati.
So between the voting and talking to a few pro-Obama supporters in a state that Nate Silver says McCain cannot win the election without winning, I am a pretty happy guy right now.
I encourage you all to make phone calls through barackobama.com, I know the prospect of calling strangers is intimidating to some, but trust me, it is rewarding.