Voting in today's election

In the last few elections, Minnesota has had one of the highest, if not the highest, voting turnouts in the country.  There's a feeling in that that makes me proud to live here.

I went to vote this afternoon and ended up picking what i thought while driving there to be the worst possible time - lunch (well, maybe the second - the after work crowd might be worse).  I pulled in the parking lot and it was packed.  I was amazed that there were only a couple spaces left.   My first reaction was 'Oh crap. There's going to be a long line.'  I really do not like waiting in line. And I hate crowded rooms, and I'm claustrophobic. Then my calmer self took over.  This is a 'who gives a rip' election year.  It's nice to see that so many people actually do care. Who knows, I might actually start talking to some of my neighbors while I wait.  I shuddered, but maybe that wouldn't be so awful.

I walked in.

Far down at the other end of an otherwise empty hallway, four jaws dropped.  As I made my way to the table, one of those jaws, a volunteer, rushed over to greet me, and asked if I was here to vote.  "Ah, yeah?"  Well, you'd think I was a Hollywood star the way they treated me.  I was the only one there who wasn't a volunteer, and the first voter they'd seen in well over an hour.  They'd had less than a dozen all day.  I asked about the parking lot and learned that some big todo meeting was being held in another part of the building.

Yes, I have to admit it was nice getting in, voting, and getting out with no wait, but I felt embarrassed.  Embarrassed for my precinct, embarrassed for my city, embarrassed for my state, and if this is what's happening everywhere, embarrassed for my country.  I now wish I could've waited in line (at least a small one) and seen people other than the volunteers who actually gives a damn.