Tuesday Jan 08, 2008
Tuesday Jan 08, 2008
Amazing! I'm now a registered voter in the USA.
With temperatures in the 50's & 60's today, we enjoyed a taste of Spring while the NH Primaries were underway. It looked to me like lots of folks in town went to the Warner NH Town Hall to cast their votes, and yup, I was one of them.
The process could not have been easier! It involved a circular trip around the small auditorium, stopping at each table for each process step.
At the first table, I filled out the voter registration form, showing my NH Driver's License. At the next table, since I had not registered as a Democrat nor a Republican, I had to choose between the pink sheet or a blue sheet... voting ballots color-coded by party. Interesting.
I noted that there were A LOT of names on the ballot that I did not recognise, as well as an empty line. This struck me as odd. I asked what that was for and was told I could add another name to the list if I so desired. I asked if this meant I could vote for "Ted Young", one of our town's well known residents, and they said I could.
Okay, that's cool. 
Moving on, I took my ballot sheet behind a little curtain and quickly ticked off my candidate of choice. I won't say who I voted for, but suffice to say I think she's a good "two for the price of one" kind of candidate.
At the next table, my name was added to the list of registered voters and marked off as having voted. Next table, I handed in my marked ballot. Next table, I got to return to my "undeclared / undecided / independent" party status, confirming my desire to not be aligned with either the Democratic nor Republican parties.
And finally, I was back at the starting point, where I was congratulated on voting for the first time.
On the local news, they're talking about long lines and over 500,000 New Hampshire residents voting today. Is it the weather bringing people out or a strong desire amongst citizens to try to make something new & positive happen? I don't know. But for this first time voter, I can only say that my first NH Primaries experience was actually rather fun.
It seems humorous that I, an immigrant, am reading this blog about an apparent US citizen's first voting experience.
In California, one can do all those steps without leaving home: registration, sign-up for vote-by-mail, receive absentee ballot, vote, and send it in. I have been doing that ever since I moved to China.
Oh, yes. They send the ballots to China for me to vote.
Posted by Sin-Yaw Wang on January 08, 2008 at 08:16 PM EST #
Darling,
I'm very proud of you for having voted the first time. Your vote will make a difference.
Your husband,
Georg
Posted by Georg Edelmann on January 08, 2008 at 09:12 PM EST #
My dream for the first female President has just been reinvigorated.
go Hillary, GO!
(This message was posted by a life-long Republican.)
Posted by W. Wayne Liauh on January 08, 2008 at 11:12 PM EST #
I see that your choice won the N.H. Primary. It's just like gambling, if you win the first time, you get hooked. Now your going to want to vote in every election!
Posted by Brian Utterback on January 09, 2008 at 09:33 AM EST #