Sarrah B. from Obama's home-state, preparing to join the winner's rally:
Asalamualaikum fellow voters!!
I voted this morning in Ann Arbor, MI. I waited in line for an hour and half. I was actually hoping it would take longer so I could go to work even later. :o) I live in a very liberal, diverse, city (AlHamdulillah) so I didn’t get any strange looks wearing hijab and abaya and standing next to my husband who has a beard. In fact, two of the election volunteers were Muslimahs in hijab.
This was only my second election I was old enough to vote in and I must say the demographic was sooooooooooooooooo different then last time. There were SOOOOO many young people! It def added to the excitement. I got to play my Obama ringtone loud and clear after I voted and I snuck a picture of my ballet.
Right now I am working on trying to get to the Chicago rally!! And anxiously reading my gmail, facebook, huffingtonpost, thenation, cnn, msnbc, and of course muslimmaters.
If you haven’t voted yet, stop reading and get out there and Barack the vote!!
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174 - 76!!!!! I’m on the edge of my seat! I am not ready to celebrate just yet but it’s hard to contain the excitment!!!
Naima - my co-workers husband’s family is from Senegal and they had cardboard cut outs of him in a local resteraunt and a bunch of people came in just to take a picture with the cut out! It really feels like the WHOLE world is backing Obama!!
From California:
Assalamu alaikum,
I voted early a week and a half ago and there was still a line. But alhamdulillah, I only had to wait for about 15 min. I voted at a university and there are plenty of muslims there, but I was the only one at the voting booth at the time. I do have a good size beard, but the university setting is pretty diverse and so I didn’t receive any funny looks.
For the record, I did vote for Barack Obama. And since I live in Cali, I voted Yes on Prop. 8, which would protect the traditional definition of marriage between a man and a woman. There was also a muslim brother running for city council who has done a lot of work for the community and for CAIR. I wanted to vote for him, but unfortunately, I do not live in his district. May Allah make it easy on him.
From Houston, Texas (a CA-licensed attorney):
innalhamdolillah. bismillah.
if you do have any negative voting experiences, please report them on the widget in this article.
i voted this morning just after 7:40 am — it took me about 20 minutes to wait in the lines. voting today was much easier in the greater Houston area than voting early because there are so many more polling places here on election day. our precinct is number 441 for our county — we have only 1600 voters in the precinct. the lead poll worker told me that 787 people in our precinct had either voted early or by mail! i took a picture, but who would want to see a huge auditorium with a scant 50 people in it?
i wore my topi/kufi because my habit is to keep some covering on my head when i am out in public. and my beard is as long as it is. i thought about going in thawb, imama, etc. but i did not want to provoke anyone to vote anti-Muslim, at least not anymore than they were already going to do. if there were extreme Muslim-haters in the room, they would have been just as angry in any case.
Hala from Chicago:
FYI, tonights rally in Chicago was full by 8AM this morning.
Naima from Ohio:
I skipped school/work to help Obama win OHIO. Will send my pictures as soon as they finish downloading insahAllah.
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I waited over 3 hours to vote and it was worth it.... I wasn’t the only hijabi because Columbus Ohio has a big Muslim population...
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My sister called me from Kenya where she’s celebrating with her husband and the whole nation since Barack’s family are from there. She’s never been soo happy about American election...
Obama made the whole continent of Africa proud.
Some of my friends in Egypt told me to call them as soon as the results come in because they couldn’t stay up to see it.... I can’t wait for this night to be over. I am already glued to CNN and I won’t go to sleep til the last vote is counted. Allahu Akbar.
AND
InshaAllah Obama will take Ohio... I didn’t knock 100 doors for no reason..... I even got chased by a dog lol....
OHIO is a swing state Obama has to win.... And inshaAllah he will.
UmmOsman from MD:
Assalamo elikuim
I voted last Tuesday (my son’s karate class was cancelled :)). I packed lot of snacks, coloring books etc for kids after hearing that the wait time is 5-6 hours or may be more. Alhamdullah it took me 25 minutes only!
I live in RED state (actually some one was telling me that our county was famous for KKK ). Alhamdullah the whole process went smoothly.
UmmDawud from AZ:
as salaamu alaikum wa rahmatuAllah..
this is my first time posting on this site (though I always read)...
masha’Allah i voted early (Friday) which was the last early voting day in my state (Arizona = very RED– McCain’s home state).. I arrived at the polling place at about 11:30am. they were passing out numbers before you could even get in! when we got our #s they informed us that we would have 2-3 hours. I left for Jumuah and came back and they still werent close to my number. I wear hijab and abaya daily, and stares are common in this state, so they werent surprising at the polling place either. My in-laws met me & my kids there (my husband didnt vote until today) and we prayed a few prayers there too :) Long story short, we didnt leave until 8:30 or 9pm.
Hidaaya from NY:
I voted in Brooklyn with my sisters (all 3 of us were in black Hijabs & Jalbab, however obviously we didn’t get any stares as its Brooklyn). I didn’t really see many young people, it was mostly elder Jewish population. It took us about 5 minutes , there was no line at least for my district. I was leaning towards choose Mckinney but I just didn’t want to take a chance and picked Obama instead =)
Oh and I saw an old uncle with a reallllly long beard at polling station. MashaAllah, but I couldn’t take his pic, sorry!
Sana from NJ:
Here in North Jersey my husband and 5 month old daughter went voting at the local Elmentary School. It was my first experience and a good one might I add =) no long lines, being 7 in the morning, so we were in and out. There were a good mix of ppl and a good Muslim turnout .
I predict Obama will get Jersey, Allahu Alam
Farah in VA:
Assalam alaikum!
I voted this morning in Northern Virginia. It took about 5-10 minutes around 10:30 am. Not bad. Voted for Obama. Really hoping he wins. I know i’ll be up tonight watching the returns. Having faith that Virgninia turns blue!!!!
Farah
Hermana in DC:
Took me about 15 minutes total to vote at around 8 this morning in NW Washington DC. It was very smooth and organized. In DC you are given a choice between a ballot and a computer. I picked a paper ballot. After I filled it out i took it to the machine and watched as it was verified as valid wuuh huu. DC is true blue District !!
We are still being taxed without representation in the US Senate!
Farhan from VA:
Northern Virginia, A SWING STATE!!!
I heard our Masjid ADAMS Center say something like 70,000 Muslims are registered to vote in this area. Did I hear the numbers wrong?? Cuz that’s a LOT.
My H-town from OH:
it took me like 3 minutes to vote....in OHIO! =)
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