Standing on line this morning, I was pretty amazed, as were the people waiting, how many came out for the opening of the polls. I always vote before work, and since I live pretty far from where I work, that means that I need to arrive early. Usually, there are three or four souls who just rolled out of bed (even in previous presidential elections). Today, there were over 100 people lined up before 6am. It was not just the sheer numbers, the anticipation and excitement was palpable. This typical Northern New Jersey suburb, not particularly political or ideological leaning in one way or the other, certainly represented quite a different atmosphere than in past years. I talked with mostly older voters, sharing some stories and spending time to decipher the ballot questions (about the methods/processes to elect municipal judges).
After voting, I always feel immense pride knowing that I’ve expressed myself in the most powerful way. I know many of you are not eligible voters; I feel bad you are not able to vote – you certainly proved you are informed and sophisticated enough to cast your ballot. For those of you who are 18 and do vote today, I invite you to share your story about what is most likely your first voting experience. What was it like? How do you feel now, after voting?
Many more thoughts, stories, and questions to share later…
I have to agree with Mr. Siegel, even though my story is slightly different. As some of you know, even though I teach at SPF, I live in PA. Today I rushed home from work (yes, teachers had to go in even though students had off) so that I could cast my “battleground” vote (our polls didn’t open until 7 and by that time I was halfway to SPF) and hopefully not have to wait in line too long. I was quite surprised to be in and out of the polling place in less than 10 minutes, but I was lucky – the local news showed lines quickly forming and even as I left there were about 10-12 people in line waiting to vote. Living in a “battleground” state, I have experienced a little more activism than what some of you have had in NJ. This past weekend my phone was practically ringing off the hook with calls from Bill Clinton, Ed Rendell, Congressional candidates, and the Clean Air and Water people (who seemed to have my number on speed dial they called so many times). I shared a story with my class about how someone was banging on my front door so hard I thought it was my 5 year old neighbor with an emergency and it turned out to be someone from the Obama campaign. I have so much literature on Obama, McCain, and local candidates that I could probably wallpaper my living room with it. If I hear “I’m (fill in name) and I approve this message”, “Maverick”, “Joe the Plumber” or “My Friends” one more time I think I’m going to throw up (so maybe I should actually be responding to the previous topic on election fatigue).
One of the things I have been concerned about is the negativity in this election season. In my district, we have a tense race for a House seat. The campaign commercials for those candidates rival the negative ads you’ve seen for McCain and Obama, and quite frankly, I’m sick of them. We’ve focused many class discussions on the negative tone of this campaign, however, despite all this negativity, I hope some of you have been inspired the way I have. As I sit here watching the election results I am amazed at the number of young people who have turned out to vote. It makes me proud to see that colleges are actually busing students to the polling places and the students have no problems waiting in line over 2 hours just to cast their first presidential election vote. I am thrilled that many of you – even those who are not old enough to vote – have been volunteering for campaigns. I have noticed so many of you expressing beliefs based on facts you have researched. You are not simply repeating information your friends, family, teachers, etc. tell you – you are taking the initiative. I encourage all of you to continue to do this.
Though I have voted in every presidential election since 1996, this election IS different. I truly feel like I am helping to make history – no matter whom I vote for. As I finish typing this post NBC is currently calling both PA and NJ for Obama. The national count so far has Obama up 103-34 with McCain following basically the same path Bush went in 2004 so needless to say this election is still up in the air. But we do see many people voting. Whether people are voting because they want change or putting “country first” the fact remains that people are voting, and that’s what counts.
Yesterday I got up early in order and made it to the polls before 6:30a.m to avoid the long lines. However, when I got there the line was already out the door. Granted this may have been because the polling place opened 15 minutes later than they said they would, but still it gave me a great deal of hope seeing everyone come out to exercise their right to vote.
Standing in line I saw a lot of people I had known since I was younger and they all thought I was just there to accompany my Dad. When they found out I was voting they were shocked. I felt special knowing my vote counted as much as theirs did.
One thing I was surprised about though was that after I had waited in line and made it to the table where they checked for registration, they did not ask to see any I.D. I heard of a similar situation in the next town over. Maybe they were trying to move the line along, but it worried me they weren’t taking more action to prevent voter fraud.
Being able to vote in more than a school election and having a say in the next president was truly an awesome feeling. Last night, watching the polls come in, I couldn’t fathom how historic and monumental this election was and I was so proud to be a part of it.
Personally I wasn’t able to vote in this election, and I was really disappointed that I couldn’t. I find it really frustrating that as an AP Gov student and someone who keeps abreast with what is going in the world, that I can’t vote. I understand the thought process behind choosing eighteen as the acceptable age to vote, you receive a lot more freedom and privileges when you’re eighteen. But at the same time I will be eighteen when the next president is serving office and therefore I can be really affected by whoever the next president will be.
I’m not sure if I think that people who will be eighteen during a president’s term should be able to vote. A lot of students are really educated because elections are often talked about in history classes, as well as other classes too. So in that regard it might be possible that students would be educated voters that would make great decisions. You still could, though, get the people who wouldn’t make educated decisions. I don’t foresee any sort of changes to the voting age, but personally I would like to see some sort of way to have educated voters under the age of eighteen, who will turn eighteen during the president’s term, be able to vote or better represented.
Focusing in more on this election, I definitely had a good time watching though. I was really excited for this election, mainly because I was just so excited about having such a powerful candidate as Obama. I watched CNN all night and heard James Carvel say at the very beginning of the night that it was already over for McCain and it had been that way for a few weeks. I loved all of the different forms of technology that they used in the election, the boards were great, and the hologram made you feel as if you were in Star Wars. One of the most interesting things that happened I thought was at around 9:30 CNN did a sort of simulation. This was when basically the entire Northeast had been decided, but Florida, Ohio, VA, CO, WI, all of those Midwestern swing states had been undecided. CNN gave McCain all of these states, everything single state that had been undecided except for California, Oregon, and Washington (states they knew would be going to the Democrats). Even with all of these states McCain only came up with 255 electoral votes, and because you knew that California, Oregon, and Washington wouldn’t go to McCain, the election was decided at 9:30. Now some people could argue that it was decided earlier than that, even weeks ago, but if you wanted to I think that you could have totally confidently gone to bed at 9:30 and known that you would be waking up to Obama being president (not that I did this).
I know that that was kind of random, but I just thought it was so interesting that they were able to predict it so early when there was still more than practically 2/3rds of the country’s results left to come in.
I couldn’t vote either, so on election night I was forced to watch and wait for the results. I was surprised that McCain took the initial lead, then I saw Obama come up ahead with around 100 electoral votes. Georgia went Republican, which I had expected, but my father and I watched eagerly to see who would take Indiana, a key state. I thought Obama simply because of Indian’s position adjacent to Illinois: I thought Obama’s message would permeate more from that fact.
As the night went on I saw the McCain camp slipping. I was finishing homework when I found out that Obama had won; I just caught the first celebrations of passing to around 295 electoral votes. I saw John McCain’s concession speech: I liked it. I didn’t get a chance to see Obama’s speech but I’ve heard it was also very good.
I went to the polls with my mother around 9 AM, thinking we would avoid the lines of people who voted before work, but we waited for at least 15 minutes. Most of the people there at that time were older. My mother and I discussed the ballot questions with the woman standing in front of us; we all did our best to offer opinions and explanations. I’ve gone with my parents to vote before (not just for presidential elections) and I never remember talking with strangers, or hearing people get so excited about the process.
As for watching the results; I became one of the election obsessed people we talked about in the last entry. I was watching CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and refreshing the NY Times home page just about every 30 seconds. I didn’t expect Obama to lose, but it was still so exciting! I was watching CNN at 11 when they announced his victory. Of course it was obvious at that point, but it was amazing to see the “Barack Obama elected president” graphic come up on the screen.
I watched both speeches, and enjoyed both. I thought McCain handled the situation very well, even when the crowd starting booing.
Still, I’m glad the election nonsense is over and the real work can begin. Such a great time to be an American.
on election day i actually found myself checking the status of the candidates constantly. i was with my younger brothers and two of their friends who are also younger and to my suprise i had probably one of the best disscussions about the election. We all sat infront of the tv and watched mccain take the early lead, but we also watched obama get the critical states.
i was finishing homework when i found out that obama would be our president, it was a weird moment for me. because in school not only do i take ap government i take racism/genocide and holocaust and since the begining of the year we have been disscussing the election and the impact of race on the election, and for a while i didnt know if america could do it.
i wasnt a crazy mccain or obama supporter but towards the end of the race i will admit i was routing for obama and when i found out that he won i was excited, and nervous. Now that he is elected the true tests begin, hopefully Obama will be able to live up to the expectations that he has been given.
I vited first thing after school and felt very proud to cast my ballot and to figure out which buttons to push without any help (just kidding, its easy). It was just an excellent election to be your first to vote in.
When I got home from the voting my dad, who is very conservative, asked me if I voted. I, being a liberal, decided to take this opportunity and pull his leg because he often would tease me about how I intended to vote for Obama. I told him I decided voting was not important because I did not want to vote for the candidate he did not support, and being the convincing actress that I am I finally got him to believe me and feel bad for all of his prior teasing. He eventually told me he did not care who I voted for as long as practiced my right; at which point I told him that I already voted after school. It was quite comical.
As for watching the returns, I was very surprised how early Obama got Ohio and Pennsylvania. I did not expect him to win by as much as he did. I was very pleased with the results and although there is a lot of work ahead of us I think we are set up to make a positive impact during the next four years.
I as well did not get the chance to vote in this election. I imagine though, for those who were able to vote, how exciting it must have been. I basically watched TV from about 8o’clock on. My mom had been switching back from channel to channel (with a little HGTV in the mix) and I had been checking facebook. It was kind of cool to see many people on facebook “donating” thier statuses to support a specific candidate or just supporting the right the vote in general. And as each new state results came in, people would update their statuses to match that. It was interesting to see how many people were caught up in such a powerful election.
At 11o’clock my mom and I were watching channel 4 news when the person announced that the polls had just closed in all of the west coast states that would guarantee Obama the victory (California/Oregon/Washington). And then all of a sudden the picture came up.. Barack Obama – Elected 44th President. We were both so confused, we thought they had made a mistake but no! They had gotten the results in and there was enough to decide that Obama won those three states that would give him the presidency. I was planning on going to bed at 11, but I decided that I had to stay up at that point, watching the celebration at Hyde Park and the concession speech in Arizona. I did want to wait up for Obama’s victory speech, but unfortunately I fell asleep. I did like McCain’s speech though, the fact that he stopped the booing toward Obama was very professional of him and I’m sure Obama appreciated it.
Now that all of the election buzz is over, America will be moving into a new transition period, which people will probably be watching (or in the process of “moving” because Obama was elected). Anyways, I wish Obama luck during this hard time in our country. It’s a hard job for anyone to take on at this point. I’m pretty excited for the 2012 election. Hopefully it will be just as exciting as this one. Palin 2012? I hope not!
Despite the fact that I am not 18 and therefore could not vote this year, election day was still very exciting. This was the first year that I actually made an effort to watch the results of the polls. Knowing a lot about the candidates and issues made the election much more meaningful and fun to watch.
I had heard people say that there were going to be many more people voting this year but I was still pleasently surprised when my parents and sister came back from voting to tell me about the endless lines that were longer than usual. They also told me that there were more teenagers there than they had ever seen. I knew that young voters were excited about this election but I was not sure if they would all get out to the polls and actually vote.
I’m excited and interested to see what will happen in the next four years with our new president. I am also excited to be able to participate in the 2012 election. I wish Obama the best of luck and hope he lives up to these huge expectations.
My story is not about going to the polls but my experiences at home that day & night. In the morning I woke up watching every “political” channel hoping SOMETHING about the elections would be going on. None of the channels I skimmed through had what I was looking for.
Then later that morning I got a phone call asking for my dad. This call was from the union. I asked what message I should leave him and they asked if my dad had voted. I said he was still at work but he was definitely going too! She said thank you and I could tell there was a smile on the other end. Everyone was making a difference this day. Whether through phone calls or television, somewhere at any time, election was on the mind.
Later I turned the tv again and watched channel 4 basically the rest of the night. As the poles were closing and numbers were coming in, me and my parents sat down to dinner staring at the tv for any updates. Numbers, names, votes. All of these flashed on the screen for the next several hours. Watching Obama’s numbers soar I was happy to see the outcome of the election. As time went by and the electoral college made their votes, I sat there wishing I could have gone to the polls. I know somehow I would have made a difference, but I think I did.
While doing homework I had the tv on mute and when I turned back everyone was jumping up & down on the screen. Obama had been declared the winner! I was very happy at this moment and turned straight to facebook to update my status. As I figured, EVERYONE was thinking the same thing as me. Either there were status’ like, “GOBAMA! i’m so happy!” or “I cannot believe this. I’m moving to Mexico” Watching the status’ update every second just amazed me! I was truly able to see everyones’ beliefs right through the computer. But it was the McCain “fans” that said they’re moving that killed me. Obama had gotten elected for a reason & now Americans just need to give him the chance like any other president. He has done nothing wrong yet, as I hope he does nothing wrong in the future. If these people actually think they’re moving to Mexico, best of luck too them!
There was only so much I could do during this election and I know that I must continue to stay up to date on the issues as Obama turns the Whitehouse around. I wish I could have voted, but I’m glad to have seen my interest in the election grow.
Neither my family or I can legally vote in the United States, so it felt like being restrained when you know so much was at stake, and you couldn’t vote. Not that our vote would’ve necessarily done much in this election, but still. Instead on election day a friend and I were going about business, and he was registered to vote. Now he isn’t the most responsible of people, so I felt uneasy if he would go and vote. After the day started wearing, just about every 20 minutes i would say “when are you going to vote?” and after a while he became annoyed. He eventually went and I felt like I had done some part, because even though I didn’t go and vote, I made sure someone did. Watching the polls come in the evening though was highly anti-climactic. By 9pm, it was pretty much clear that Obama had won. Nobody was saying it, because that would be unprofessional, but it was in the bag. I was disappointed, I expected a much more exciting race. Once Obama was elected, it didn’t necessarily feel historic or anything. It wasn’t much of a surprise or a struggle for him to have won.
Several days before November 4, I looked at the sample ballot I got in the mail and began to decipher the ballot questions. Upon the first read, it may as well have been hieroglyphics. But I feel like every vote I cast is important, so I took some time to reread, re-reread, re-re-reread…
…and I picked the questions apart and understood them. In my opinion, both issues were actually important and relevant to all New Jerseyans, but it is a shame that these questions were presented in such a way that laymen could not make heads or tails of what they were reading. I would really like to know if and why the highly technical language was necessary.
I was planning to wake up at 5:30 on November 4, to be among the first to cast my ballot at the 6:00 opening, but November 3 was my birthday, so I was celebrating and I only got to sleep at about 2 am, which made it impossible for me to will myself out of bed 3.5 hours later, even for Barack Obama. I found out later that sleeping in was an especially good decision, because the 6:00 line at my polling place was almost 100 people deep. The volunteers who I spoke with when I went to vote at around 10:30 said they had never seen such a turnout. I got to vote well after the morning rush, and before the lunch rush, so I had no wait at all. It was a very easy and comfortable process. After I voted, one of the volunteers asked me if it was my first time. I said yes, and she shook my hand and said, “congratulations.” I said thanks, and in that moment I was especially aware of how powerful my vote was. Not only did I vote to change my life, I changed her life, and I changed the world. Then I went home, and proceeded to watch Obama pull off an electoral HULK SMASH.
I was exultant. I almost cried. It was a uniquely amazing feeling to see my guy win, and to know that I contributed to that victory.
I am not yet old enough to vote so on election day I settled for lazing around my house and watching the news/other politically themed television, waiting for results to start coming in. I was disappointed because I had to tear myself away from CNN for 2 hours at 7 for dance, and spent the whole class whining and wondering what I was missing.
When I returned home around 9 I turned on the news and saw Obama’s overwhelming lead. It was pretty clear at this point that he was going to win, which excited me, but I was also somewhat disappointed that the race wasn’t as close and exciting as I’d hoped/I had missed the first results. I offered to stay up and finish coloring the blue/red states on my 10-year-old brother’s map that his teacher assigned him. (I remembered trying to stay up to finish my own map when I was in 4th grade and being disappointed when I simply couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.)
When Obama’s victory was announced at 11, the feeling was unbelievable. Seeing the footage of people celebrating all over the country AND in Kenya and Australia was overwhelming in such a good way. I heard stories from a couple of my college friends about the riots that occurred on their campuses. I felt so proud to be an American for this momentous occaision.
A couple days after the election I went to Boston to visit colleges, and on the BU campus there is a statue entitled “Free At Last” dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., who was a BU alum. I was very moved to see that there were several bouquets of flowers left at the base of the statue. This sight was so emotional and bittersweet. I’m extremely proud to live in a time when the efforts of civil rights leaders such as Dr. King and the progress our country has made is evident.
I was one of the unfortunate this election and while my parents went out to vote i was stuck at work, listening to a radio broadcast on the election results. Election day was a day that i anticipated but was not overly excited about, until the day actually arrived. It was nerve racking to only be able to hear what was going on rather than to see it. However, when it was announced that Obama had won Ohio and Virginia, I felt a great deal of weight come off of my shoulders. It was such a long anticipated election night and it was over the results of one state. Of course the official results were’nt given until much later in the evening after I had turned in for the night, but when i woke the next morning to the results flashing on my tv screen, it was almost like a sense of closure. Now its time to get down to business. We’re in for a rough four years.
It was really frustrating to me that I couldn’t vote, especially because this was the first election that I faithfully followed. I also cared more about who would win, and knew who I would have voted for had I been 18. Still, my election day was a very stressful and exciting day, even though I couldn’t cast my vote. I watched the news all night in my house, and was disappointed I wasn’t able to fully celebrate like I wanted to – thought my parents were okay with Obama, they’re republican, and I knew they weren’t as happy as I was that he won. I was wishing the whole time I could celebrate in the streets like some others did. Thankfully, I can do this next election. I am very excited for the next four years of change.
Although I too was not able to vote in this election I will still remember this election day for the rest of my life for many reasons. I had little doubt in my mind that Obama would lose, so throughout the day instead of being interested in the voting results, I found myself more interested in what I would do with my day off from school. It was not until that night when I actually was able to sit back and reflect on the election. As a supporter of Obama, I was not expecting to get much out of McCain’s speech. Boy was I wrong though. Watching McCain give his speech really showed me how great of a man he was and I realized how lucky I was to be able to follow one of the most competitive elections in American history. Along with the rest of the country, I feel honored to be able to have seen one of the greatest social boundaries crossed with Obama becoming our first black president. I am upset that I was not able to vote in such a memorable election, but am still thankful that I was able to witness it from the start all the way to the end.
I have to admit that I never really had a strong set of opinions or views concerning politics or the election until this election came around. I had faithfully followed the election and read as many articles as I could on CNN, so when Election Day came, I was irritated at the fact that I couldn’t express myself and take part in a historic election.
After my parents and oldest brother had voted, I called my other brother (who lives in New York) and asked him who he had voted for. To my surprise, he hadn’t even registered to vote. When I asked him why he hadn’t, his response was, “I was too lazy. Besides, I don’t think one vote is really going to change the outcome. Obama’s got it in the bag.” I wasn’t just annoyed, but I experienced pure frustration at my brother’s illogical deduction. He had been given the responsibility, as an American, to play an active role in American politics, yet he had neglected this privilege and spent the day relaxing.
My point is that I think every person who is eligible to vote should exercise this right because frankly, I was annoyed at the fact that I couldn’t voice my opinion and even more enraged that my brother had simply tossed his responsibility away. I’m sure there are many others who have the same mindset, but if everyone had this attitude, where would our democracy be? America is a country of the people, and as citizens, we need to muster every effort in ourselves to make this country the best it can possibly be.
I have to say, I was very excited that I was able to vote in this election. My dad called me around ten to tell me that I should vote early, since the lines were going to be insanely long. This warning, coupled with the election frenzy, made me surprised to see that the line wasn’t very long when I got to the polls.
There was a group of elderly people in line in front of me, and they were being absolutely adorable. After one of them voted, the rest of them would applaud and crack jokes. One man proclaimed when he left the booth, “Now there, that wasn’t so hard.” It made me really happy to see that they were getting such joy out of voting.
Later, when my parents were home from work, the phone rang. I picked it up and listened for a few seconds and then hung it up again. My mom looked at me funny and asked if it was a wrong number. I told her that it was just Linda Stender reminding us to go out and vote. She laughed because apparently there were already two messages from Linda Stender on our answering machine. Apparently there was one recording for both my parents and me. And then my dad said that Bill Clinton had called him the night before. I was a little offended that Bill Clinton hadn’t called me!
I didn’t spend much time watching election coverage, since I pretty much knew how it was going to turn out. And I’m very glad that it turned out the way it did. I’m very excited that Obama is our President Elect and I can’t wait to see what’ll happen in the four years to come.
I unfortunatly didn’t get to vote on election day, but I still felt pretty active. I was volunteering at the Stender headquaters in Fanwood, which, as the election got closer, turned into a campaign office for all the democratic candidates. On election day we went out door to door reminding people who the democratic candidates for all offices were and telling them where they could vote. I wasn’t sure how much of an impact that really made, as I hoped that people already knew who all of the candidates were and who they were planning on voting for. It still was good to feel like I was doing something since I couldn’t make a difference by voting this year.
On election night, once the polls started coming in, me and a few of my friends sat down in front of the tv and watched the race unfold. Even though we, and most of America, knew that there was a good chance that Obama was going to win (due to recent polling results), it was still interesting to see what all the different states decided. For example, Virginia for the first time in decades, went democrat which was crazy to watch. We all made bets on what states would go to each candidate and it was interesting to see how accurate we could predict the outcomes. Later that night, once Barack Obama was prounounced our next president, me and my father watched both McCain give his concession speech, and Obama his victory speech. Although I was not for McCain, I though his speech was really good and touching, and I really liked how he immediatly told his supporters that he, and they as well, should back our next intelligent and qualified president Barack Obama. While McCain’s speech was well recepted, it was nothing compared to the crowd praise Obama recieved during his. When you saw people like Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey crying as they watched Obama give his speech, you can’t help but tear up to as you realize what a momunmental impact his win has on all of America, especially those of African American descent. It was a remarkable and overwhelming moment for all of American, no matter what race you are.
While I am not of voting age the election stories have not eluded me at all. My own family was fairly uninteresting in theirs: both my mother and father had no problems at all with waiting, etc. My father actually stated that he was in and out when he went around 1:00PM. The same goes for my brother who only experienced a 10 minute wait. I believe, however, that the people that didn’t vote are at a huge disadvantage. In my mind, they don’t have a right to complain about issues around the nation if they’ve chosen in some fashion or another not to vote. Of course there are those few people who just couldn’t get out of work, but what about absentee votes? I talked with several people who said they or a family member didn’t vote at ALL because they were preoccupied with work or school or something of that fashion. To me, it represents a blatant disregard for priorities in that person’s mind. They did not take a part in choosing our next commander in chief, so they should not have the right to complain about his decisions (keep in mind this is only my opinion). Watching the news, I saw line after line after line, coming from all over the U.S. From Olympia to Sacramento to Charlseton to New York City. It was thrilling in a strange sort of way. I’m not old enough to be able to recollect any other presidential elections that greatly, so being aware that the American people as a whole are reacting this much in a presidential race run in my lifetime is a sort of cool thing to realize. I wasn’t watching coverage of it in depth, by any means. I would check in every so often just to see if there were any major voting gaffes or errors or interesting slip ups of any kind but there were none. When the numbers began coming in, something laughed inside of me when I saw some of these usually conservative states with Obama leads. Virginia for example; nearly 70% of the districts were painted red but the blue ones contained the large urban cities which tend to, generally speaking, lean left. Things like this are both sort of warming when you know that the candidate you would have voted for is leading in a battleground state, but then it goes to show the huge number of people in opposition to Obama’s election. I’ve heard these people both on news programs and other political blogs that they actually FEAR an Obama presidency. It’s disheartening to realize this sad fact, that we will have such a large population of the American people with a man in the White House whom they did not want to be there. Going back to the results: once Ohio went for Obama that was it for me. My father had told me several months ago that NO REPUBLICAN has ever gained the chair in the White House without Ohio since 1860. Other than that, the election was fairly predictable.
I woke up on Election Day like it was Christmas morning. The night before I had a dream that it was snowing, which I later found out means a “clean start from a fresh perspective indicative of peace and tranquility,” which I automatically applied to the election since it had consumed my thoughts for so long. The time for change in Washington had come. It was time for this political battle to come to an end. While I was unable to vote, I was confident that I had done all I could do to support my candidate. And as I went with my friend to vote, I couldn’t help but feel the excitement in the air that this election had brought on. Oddly enough, I remained calm throughout the day, which is not like me. I then sat glued to CNN all day until the end of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. Not gonna lie… I teared up a little. I feel proud to have witnessed this moment in American history.
I was in Boston during the election, and I got up early with my uncle when he went to vote. I did not go inside the voting facility but for it being 6am the place was jam packed. One would think there was a party because 9 out of the 10 people there to vote I would estimate were under 22 years of age. I later went to Wellesley College where I saw every walkway covered in sidewalk chalk reading “Change”, “Yes We Can”, “Obama”, “A Man for the People”, and his symbol. I saw one “McCain” on that vast campus. At 11:00 when he had been declared the winner the Political Science resounded in a huge roar. they were watching the main channel for their area on a huge overhead screen. It was clear to see that Obama was their man. I may not have been able to vote but I defiantly felt the spirit of this election during that overnight stay.
Unfortunately, I was not able to vote in this election. However, I did go to the polls with my mom, although it wasn’t that exciting. We went at about 11:00, and there were maybe two people in line in front of us. We talked to a couple of people, but not about the election.
My election day excitement didn’t really start until later that night. My dad didn’t vote for someone I wanted him to vote for, so we had a pretty heated discussion while he was driving me to tennis. While I was there, there was a little bit of yelling and screaming at each other between the tennis students and one of the pros. I found it interesting that out of all the Republican voters, none of them said, “I’m voting for McCain.” Instead, they all said, “I’m voting for Palin.”
When I got home, my parents and I sat down to watch CBS and see the numbers come in. We were surprised at how quickly it all ended, and I think we all thought the race would be a lot closer. After Obama was announced the next President, my sister called from Boston to say that she and a lot of other people went outside to celebrate. It was a pretty exciting night for all of us!
Although I am not yet at the right age to vote, I found the amount of voters and the hype of this election to be rather shocking. I know my mom signed up to vote and was eventually eligible to do so. Yet once she heard the news about the long waiting time (2-4 hours) she instantly changed her mind. I remember on Election Day, I had a dentists appointment (not that my appointment has any relevance) but we were driving to the office in Manhattan, we came across an immensely long line, stretching for a whole avenue and around the block. It was very surprising to see so many people there. I honestly couldn’t believe how that many people were willing to wait so long just to vote. I do understand that their vote is for the fate of the U.S. but a whole 2-4 hours…. Come on. At least go sit at a restaurant and wait for the lines to get shorter. Also, my aunt in Indiana voted and it took her 2 hours.
Anyway, after my splendid experience in New York, me and my mom went home and watched CNN till 11 o’clock, the time of the shocking and unprecedented news.
As to Jeff K’s response, I totally disagree with his thought that anyone who didn’t vote should not have the right to complain about Obama’s presidency. That’s referring to almost half of the U.S. population. According to CNN’s count on the popular vote, about 122.4 million people voted this election. The U.S. is home to 300 million people… How can you say that half the population does not have the right to complain? Also, you are not taking into consideration the people who didn’t vote because they appose both candidates including independents. What are they supposed to do? Vote regardless of their views? And also, the popular vote really has no effect on the outcome (as we saw when Al Gore lost to Bush). Bush won the electoral vote by 5 votes, and lost the popular vote by about 500 thousand. Can you truly say that the popular vote really does anything, I don’t think so (at least that’s how I see it). And also, most people don’t vote because they really don’t know, nor care about politics. But when a president decides to lead us into a war for reasons that don’t even make sense, then I do think everyone (educated about politics or not) has the right to complain.
Although I highly disagree with his statement, I do understand where he’s coming from and I respect his opinion. But I don’t believe in it one bit.
I was reading over my post and I just wanted to expand on my point about people who dislike both candidates. It seemed to me that in Jeff’s post it was implied that people who don’t know who to vote for, should just vote for the sake of voting. But I find that to be unfair. Should we really base our next commander in chief based on unconcerned voters.
Like most of my peers, I too did not have the opportunity to vote in this historical Election. I was not disappointed about my ineligibility because I was able to contribute to the election by volunteering in the weeks leading to the Election Day. It was gratifying to see that my candidate won. I had planned to go to the polling station with my parents that morning, but I went to bed too late and I couldn’t get at 5:00 a.m. My parents were hoping to be the first to cast their vote at the polling station that morning; however, they were pleasantly surprise to see 50 other voters ahead of them at 5:30 a.m. My parents described the atmosphere as “VERY UPBEAT”. It was like going to a much-anticipated sporting event or a concert. After the disastrous regime of the last 8 years, people did not mind getting out of their bed at 4:00 a.m. to vote for Change. The night of the election was full of anticipation as we flipped from one channel to the other trying to see which station will be the first to call a particular State. We pretty much knew that the election was over when they call Pennsylvania and Ohio for Obama. The universal jubilation following Obama’s victory was beautiful to watch. I was very happy to hear Senator McCain’s gracious concession speech after a brutal election. Senator McCain’s attempt to bring people together after the hard fought election was commendable. We congratulate Senator Obama and wish him well as he takes on many of the challenges ahead.
I couldn’t vote, but I was still enthusiastic about the outcome of the election. This election as we all know was very significant and historic. Because of the new era in technology, and the importance of the election, so many people cued their interests towards the election. There was much election obsession; people constantly checking CNN, and becoming familiar with policies, and listening to political analyst commentary. This, consequently, made many people participate in the election, especially the unprecedented amounts of young voters. Since more people voiced their opinion via voting, it showed that the American people were interested about the election result and concerned about the future of our country, because if they were not then they would have no need to vote and they would let themselves be carried by the current.
I was confident that Obama was going to win; the republicans ran the show the last eight years and obviously the country has not gone the right direction, and thus required change. I would’ve been very surprised if Obama didn’t win by a decent margin. The first official poll results showed McCain was winning, but I knew that Obama was eventually going to catch up. I believe that Obama’s organized campaign, his policies, and eloquence truly aided him in winning battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, which were crucial in solidifying his win. Obama did an amazing job in his campaign, a campaign considered to be one of the finest in history.
I was doing homework as I was watching CNN for the election results. For me, it was truly interesting to see the CNN coverage of the election. I realized that the hype of the election really hit me there, as I was waiting for the announcement of the new president of the United States, while watching the crowds of people on TV so excited to find out who was going to be the next president. It was weird how I pretty much knew who was going to end up victorious and yet had much anticipation to the outcome of the election. It was just the atmosphere with so much interested Americans, and the knowing that the upcoming president was going to be a big deal for the betterment of America from the financial and foreign policy crisis, that made me have much anticipation. It was great to know Obama won. I think McCain handled his loss extremely well; he was very respectful and offered his utmost support and blessings to Obama for the years to come. Obama’s speech also was very well carried out; it addressed the American public of the problems ahead and showed how the unity as a nation as well as Obama’s confident and optimistic attitude would help us go forward to make America a better country. I also thought very interesting and also emotional when he addressed how America progressed and evolved since the last 50 years by referring to the experiences an old woman had. Obama used this fact of progression and evolving, as evidence that our country could definitely change, and I think this really ended his speech in a high note, signifying his confidence in that America could in reality change for the better.
I was 18 in time for the election by a few days, and I did vote. I went to my old elementary school down the street at around 3:30pm, and there were maybe 5 people there who were voting. It was nice because I had to wait about 1 minute. If anyone cares, I voted for John McCain, Dick Zimmer, Linda Stender, and the three Republicans running for Union County seats. Every. Single. Person. Lost. I think this is funny, because although I voted heavily Republican, and they were at a disadvantage because of Obama’s reputation, the one Democrat I voted for lost. Not only is that funny, but when you think about it, I am a true rebel, a noncomformist. I disagreed with the majority at my local, state, and national level. That is my real election story.
I would like to take this time to gripe about all the people I voted for losing, so if you wish to skip this, please do. 1 We don’t need more Democrats in the Senate. Once the Democrats control 60 seats, than the free world will go up in flames. That, or they will just push an ultra liberal agenda through Congress (supposing that Obama can control the Congress), which in my opinion is just as bad. 2 Leonard Lance is a jerk. He ran the “Linda Stender is a spender, and a double pension padder too” commercial, and I will never, never, never vote for him. Never. Plus I can’t take him seriously, and I bet the other Congresspeople won’t either. 3 The Democrats control 9 out of the 9 seats in Union County on the Board of Chosen Freeholders. 9/9 = 100%, or in other words, they have a monopoly over county government. As every non-Communist hopefully knows, monopolies, and lack of competition cause less than desirable effects. I blame the fact that Union County is a cesspool on the lack of political competition in Union County. 4 Finally, I have the least problem with Barack Obama being elected as President. I know people are most polarized about this election, but I honestly think he will do an okay job, given he doesn’t turn America into a socialist state. He’s a smart guy, and he is already respected by other countries, and most important of all, he isn’t like John Kerry.
In response to Mohammed A I must say that I guess I wasn’t as specific when I said “complain.” First of all I really have zero respect for anyone who made up an excuse somewhat to the point of “Oh the line was too long” or “Oh I was working” as to the reason why they didn’t vote. Soldiers in IRAQ vote, so why do you get to be exempt (I’m just speaking in general). I understand as well that a huge portion of the country didn’t vote. But not voting in this election means you didn’t set a position for yourself in the American political culture. You didn’t choose A or B or C, you chose nothing. How can you complain about our president if you took no part in the election process? It’s not the fact that you voted for McCain or Obama. Voting for any of the other independent candidates would be enough in my opinion. Not voting, to me, just shows how much those American citizens really feel about the country. You’re not taking an active stance against or for anything. You can vote for the Green Party candidate or the All Day Breakfast party! Vote for a party of which will knowingly be crushed. Is this throwing away a vote? Well yes, but then again what about those people who TRULY agree with the views of third parties? They actually associate themselves with the third party and vote for them anyways, realizing completely that their vote will probably not alter the election (even though it has in several periods of American history). When I speak about this I’m not talking about a select minority of people, I am speaking in terms of the huge number of Americans who didn’t vote. This I believe is a major problem in the U.S. and why there are so many “Get out and vote!” campaigns going on in the country. Saying that the registration process is obnoxious isn’t a reasonable excuse either. And I never said that the popular vote determined an election, and that’s not what I meant when I said that I was annoyed at non-voters. Of course the popular vote doesn’t mean much against our Electoral system, but what does it tell you about the state of the nation? Seeing the lack of interest in voting is disturbing to me, and yes I realize that this applies to a very large portion of the country. The popular vote is a comparison to the electoral in that we get to see a representation of what our direct influence on the selection of the president would be. If you look at it respect of the numbers then yes, one vote may not count for much, but it’s when a large number of people get this view that it becomes a problem. And getting into what I mean about “complaining…” I don’t just mean talking to friends or family about issues going on or decisions the president makes, I mean, specifically, speaking OUT about them. I should have been more specific when I was talking about this. What’s wrong with throwing your vote in with a third party’s bin? The act of voting is, to me, a duty of the American citizen. For me, this is on the same level as jury duty or something similar. I’ve said it before, as well; people in America seem to think that others will do the work for them.