My little sister writes in:
It turned out to be something I hadn't expected in the least…anxiety ridden. I walked to the polling place before my first class at around 8:30am. When I got there I quickly filled out my sample ballot. I gave them my name and signed on the line. Before I could even ask to get my picture taken by my poll booth, I realized I had forgotten to take my ballot to put into the voting machine. So, a little embarrassed, I walked back to the front and asked them for one. The women gave it to me and explained how it was to be put in at the top, to make sure it was in all the way, and to please double check that the correct circles were marked. This experience had quickly turned into a lot of responsibility.I finally got to my poll booth with the correct ballot in hand and that is when the anxiety kicked in. What if the wrong circle gets marked? What if I accidentally vote for McCain by a slip of the machine? As I went through the list I double-checked each mark I made and stamped each circle twice, fearing the first one may not be adequate. I was finally finished and as I pulled my ballot out of the machine I thought to myself, "what if it smudges coming out?" I then quickly looked it over to make sure this did not happen. Then it was time to hand it in, I put it through the ballot collecting machine on my way out, making sure to wear my "I voted" sticker with pride and keep my one inch receipt in case my vote was the swing vote in some weird realm of imagination. And this, was my first experience voting!
