On Tuesday morning, November 4th, I got up around my usual time, 5:40, got dressed, and then got Emily and Bailey up in order to get them ready for school. John was in NC and Ansley had spent the night at Mom's, so it was just the three of us. I had been talking to Emily about it being our duty to go vote. We specifically had been talking about the President. Since it was predicted that there would be a record number of voters and you never know what will come up with three litt
le ones and work, I thought we would be in great shape if we arrived at the poles promptly at 7:00 when they opened. Originally when I thought John was going to be in town, I had planned to only take Emily, but since he was out of town and I was not expecting any significant wait, I thought I would go ahead and take Bailey with us as opposed to driving all the way to Palmetto Prep and then back to Mauldin. When we arrived, we noticed a small line as we were getting out of the car, but did not think much about it. When we got out of the car, Emily said, "I am going to meet the President". It was too cute, but I did have to remind her we were going to vote. By coincidence, we ran in to Mrs. Kathleen, one of the teachers in Ansley and Bailey's class and she was saying she had been there a while and the line had not moved, therefore she was going to have to come back at lunch. We chatted and I said I would take Bailey on to school if there would be a wait and she offered to take Bailey on for me since she was on her way. It was so nice of her and with her being the girls teacher for so long, I completely trusted her to take Bailey to school. After we switched Bailey's seat over to her car, Emily and I then went and got in line. As it turned out, it was much windier and colder than when we left the house and it did not seem like the line was moving. I tried to talk Emily in to leaving several times (I figured I would take her to school and then come back on my own), but she was determined that she was going to vote =) In normally Emily fashion, she entertained the crowd with her dancing and comments in line and she also enjoyed picking flowers. Although it seemed to take a while, about 45 minutes, when we got inside the door, I thought we were almost to the check in table. However when we entered the door, I found out there was a significant portion of the line inside. I offered to Emily to leave, but being the 
good citizen that she is, she was determined to stay. At around 8:30 we finally made it to the check in table and then waited through the line to get to the voter booth. It was not until I was one back from going in the booth, that Emily decided she was ready to go. Luckily, we were right there. She came up with me to the booth and I cast my ballot. Next we walked down to the table where we checked in for the Mauldin referendum. I got my paper ballot and we walked over to the booth. Emily's big highlight was getting to place the actual paper ballot in the box. I was so glad it worked out there was a referendum in Mauldin where paper ballots were used, since Emily could appreciate this more than the electronic voting. After she placed it in the box, we made out way out and she got her "I voted" stickers. When we arrived at school, she was very proud to show her class that she voted and I was very proud of how well she did with having to wait almost 2 hours to vote!!!
le ones and work, I thought we would be in great shape if we arrived at the poles promptly at 7:00 when they opened. Originally when I thought John was going to be in town, I had planned to only take Emily, but since he was out of town and I was not expecting any significant wait, I thought I would go ahead and take Bailey with us as opposed to driving all the way to Palmetto Prep and then back to Mauldin. When we arrived, we noticed a small line as we were getting out of the car, but did not think much about it. When we got out of the car, Emily said, "I am going to meet the President". It was too cute, but I did have to remind her we were going to vote. By coincidence, we ran in to Mrs. Kathleen, one of the teachers in Ansley and Bailey's class and she was saying she had been there a while and the line had not moved, therefore she was going to have to come back at lunch. We chatted and I said I would take Bailey on to school if there would be a wait and she offered to take Bailey on for me since she was on her way. It was so nice of her and with her being the girls teacher for so long, I completely trusted her to take Bailey to school. After we switched Bailey's seat over to her car, Emily and I then went and got in line. As it turned out, it was much windier and colder than when we left the house and it did not seem like the line was moving. I tried to talk Emily in to leaving several times (I figured I would take her to school and then come back on my own), but she was determined that she was going to vote =) In normally Emily fashion, she entertained the crowd with her dancing and comments in line and she also enjoyed picking flowers. Although it seemed to take a while, about 45 minutes, when we got inside the door, I thought we were almost to the check in table. However when we entered the door, I found out there was a significant portion of the line inside. I offered to Emily to leave, but being the 
good citizen that she is, she was determined to stay. At around 8:30 we finally made it to the check in table and then waited through the line to get to the voter booth. It was not until I was one back from going in the booth, that Emily decided she was ready to go. Luckily, we were right there. She came up with me to the booth and I cast my ballot. Next we walked down to the table where we checked in for the Mauldin referendum. I got my paper ballot and we walked over to the booth. Emily's big highlight was getting to place the actual paper ballot in the box. I was so glad it worked out there was a referendum in Mauldin where paper ballots were used, since Emily could appreciate this more than the electronic voting. After she placed it in the box, we made out way out and she got her "I voted" stickers. When we arrived at school, she was very proud to show her class that she voted and I was very proud of how well she did with having to wait almost 2 hours to vote!!! 
No comments:
Post a Comment