My voting experience - in Utah!

I live in a tiny rural town that is situated approximately 20 miles northeast of Park City, Utah. Park City is teeming with liberals; the majority of the population relocated there for the fabulous winter skiing conditions. However, that is not the situation in my little town, in fact, it couldn't possibly be farther away from it.

My town is full of Mormons and "rednecks." The majority of the people look down their nose at you if they aren't seeing you in the church pew each Sunday morning. To top this perceived oppression off, our polling place was located in the local "Stake House" of the LDS church last Tuesday. (I'm not sure why they located it there this year. I've lived in this town for 15 years and for every other election our polling place was located in City Hall.)

But I digress. When I arrived to cast my ballot I was greeted with a row of those damn Diebold machines. In previous elections we had always voted on punch cards, so I was hoping against hope that our backwards little town still had them in place for this election. No such luck. It was with some trepidation that I accepted my voter card and slid it into the slot.

I went through my selections carefully, making sure that each screen recorded my choices accurately. When I got to the final screen that displayed the summary of my selections, I turned to the poll workers and asked them if it was permissible to take a photo of my vote. They looked at one another with confusion on their faces, and one woman spoke up. "I don't know. Would you like me to find out for you?" "Yes, please" I replied.

She whipped out her cell phone and called the BOE. The person that answered the phone had no clue and went to find somebody who did. In the meantime, my screen started flashing at me that it was going to discard my vote if I did not make a selection soon. I started freaking out, worried that I might loose my vote entirely over a stupid photograph, when suddenly the poll worker called out "Sure! You can take a photo if you want to." I snapped a quick cell phone pic and cast my ballot.



As I pulled the voter card out of the slot and wheeled around to return it to the poll workers, I noticed the other voters, still at their machines, positively beaming at me. They knew damn well who I had voted for just by my insistence on having a photograph of the occasion!

I stopped by the town’s “Mom & Pop” grocery store on my way home. This particular establishment has been owned and staffed by the same Mormon family for just over 100 years. As I walked through the door I was greeted by one of the cashiers. She was wearing a great big “Yes We Can” button.

That was when my tears started to flow and I knew - beyond the shadow of a doubt - that we were gonna win this thing!



(Edited to crop vote photo)

THANKS for sharing!

I am completely blown away that my county went blue! The best we've ever done - for a very long time - was just a shade of purple. :cry:

and that was a great experience you had. Thanks.

I'm "fighting the beast on it's own turf." :nuke:

Obama received 17% more of the vote in Utah than Kerry did. That margin of increase was exceeded only in HI(+36%), IN(+22%), MT(+19%), and ND(+18%).

Numbers based on voting shifts analysis by the New York Times:
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html

I bet in 20 years Utah will go blue

Thank you for that! :hug: