The ADHD Voter, Voted

Yesterday I got to vote for the first time ever. It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be.

I always thought there’d be a long line to wait it, lots of paperwork to read, people with signs outside the building telling you who to vote for, and the people working there would ask me questions, I’d have to show my license and fill out forms – none of that happened.

On Monday everyone was saying to go early and vote at 7am, when the polls opened, in order to avoid an hour long wait in the after-work crowds. I didn’t want to go early and “get it over with” I wanted it to take a long time; I wanted it to be a big deal.

I went to vote at 5pm after work. There was no line. The place was half empty. They didn’t even ask for my license, and the only questions they asked were what street I lived on and my first name. I took my ballot and stood at one of the little booths to cast my votes. I’d even gone online to read about the people running for other offices besides president so I’d be informed when I got there. I planned ahead for God’s sake! After all that planning and reading I was done in less than two minutes. Most of the people were running unopposed!

Then, I went home and watched the news for a few hours to see who was winning and which of the ballot measures had passed. It was all over and everything had been announced by 11pm – less than 6 hours after I had put my ballot in the box.

Needless to say; my first-time-voting experience was less than the official, serious, drawn-out ordeal I had pictured in my head.

Next election, I’m going to propose they make everyone wait in line for at least 10 minutes, ask for multiple forms of ID, and don’t announce the winner for at least a week. Maybe then all the hype would seem worth it to me.