Voting...What a Privilege!

One thing I have noticed in the past couple of years is the value of being able to safely select our governing officials. After watching the problems in Iraq when they tried to vote and also the malay going on in Kenya following their elections, I count it an incredible privilege to vote the way I did this morning...even though it wasn't the smoothest ever.

Yesterday, I went to the county annex to see if I was registered to vote and after making a phone call, the nice woman at the counter said no. She told me I would have to fill out a provisional ballot, but that I would be able to vote. I was okay with that and was glad that I would get to vote. This morning I went back to the annex to vote (after looking online to find where to vote), only to find no one voting there. A nice lady in the parking lot informed me to go to the firehouse on Bay Area...cool. Went there only to find out that I was not in the right precinct, so I called Rhonda to find out our precinct. Then I was told to go to the College of the Mainland Extension, where I finally got to vote - and also learn what exactly a "provisional ballot" was and how it would be counted. Whew!

All of that happened so I could elect the person I wanted to be up for election this year. I didn't have to take cover on my way in and I had no shots fired at me. No one yelled at me, in fact everyone was very polite at all three locations.

You may disagree with who I voted for, or you may not, but all of us should count it a privilege to participate in the electoral process of this great country. It's our similarities and our differences that make this country what it is. Remember that you have a chance to spread a little of that "living water" when you stand in the lines or find that your name isn't on the list it should be today. Relax. Have fun. Meet someone new. And thank God that you aren't dodging an AK47 round while you wait...and that you won't have a blue thumb when you leave.