My President Was Elected November 5, 2008

I didn’t even take the time to post about all the craziness surrounding this election.  I submitted for an absentee ballot on October 5.  It was October 31 and I still had not received my ballot in the mail! I placed a phone call to the county elections office and was informed that it has supposedly been mailed on October 8.  Now I only live a 6 hour drive from my home county, and snail mail doesn’t really move that slow.  Since it was within 7 days of the election, they would not re-mail me a ballot! The only way I would be able to vote would be to drive that 6 hour drive home to vote and try to make it back in time for work.  It wasn’t a viable option.  I made a visit to my post office and of course they didn’t have it in their lost mail.  I was told to place a call to the direct courier on Monday.  So Monday November 3, I call and he is no where to be found.  I had accepted that I may not be voting in this historic election.   Miraculously, I get home early only to find my absentee ballot finally in my mailbox.  I rush to fill it out (but double-checked it to be sure I did it right) and get to the post office.  I was able to get it in just 1 hour before the mail was to leave, and had it overnighted to my home.  It had to be there by 8pm November 4 to count, and I made it!  I am so happy that I was able to vote.  This year my voice was heard, along with >90% of black voters, >65% Latino voters, >65% of first-time voters, >60% of youth voters, >55% of women voters, and 55% of voters making less than $100,000/year.  We elected Barack Obama as 44th PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES!!!

My Ballot:

Even as I am typing this I am still a bit in shock in the historic event that occured yesterday.  WE as Americans really elected a black man as our president!  Can you believe it?  Senator Obama is now President (elect) Barack Obama!  I really did not believe that this would even happen.  Maybe America really is ready for CHANGE. What I absolutely loved about his acceptance speech as President Elect is how humble he was.  This was not about celebrating how great he is (which is so clear), but about celebrating the statement that the American people are making.  He really talked about WE, US, OUR, not just about “me.”  It’s amazing how great a leader he already has become bringing together all these different people from all walks of life.  Across generations, racial lines, party lines, gender lines, you name it.  He recognizes that this is a pretty hard time for all of us and he is challenging us as a people to get involved with the change; to really believe in the mantra “YES WE CAN.”  I think that is such an important approach because he really can’t do it alone.  This will be such a steep battle as he described, but I would not rather any man be at the forefront than our new President Obama!!