Hi Eli,

Slog has been a staple of my election coverage for the last few months… thanks for posting all these stories. Some of them have really tipped me over the edge—the edge that started around 7:30 this morning when I went to vote.

My wife and I brought our absentee ballots to our local polling place this morning, and there was a line out the door and to the apartment building next door. We’ve never seen anyone in the polling place when we were there, so it was a nice surprise. On our way to drop off our ballots, we passed a woman with a “no on 8” sign. There was another guy across the street and a third woman at the corner on the other side of the polling place. Our neighborhood’s a pretty safe No on 8 area, but it was so touching to see them out.

What tipped me over the edge, though, was on my way to the store. No on 8 supporters were around every polling place, at freeway off ramps and outside the grocery store. As is custom here in the Bay Area, I beeped my horn and waved as I passed, tears welling up in my eyes. Coupled with the NPR story interviewing couples like us who rushed to be married this summer, I’ve been weepy ever since.

It’s such a momentous day, and even though I’m working at home, and not around a bunch of people, I can feel the energy in the air…. I’m vibrating like a tuning fork! Not much work will be done today…

-Kathy in Oakland

Send me a letter about your voting experience here.

My husband and I are liberal east-coast educated folk living in one of the more conservative areas of California—the northern bit of the Central Valley.

Our district is gerrymandered to go all the way up to the border so it nearly always goes Republican for its congressional seat. We went by our tiny polling place at 7:45 this morning to find it wait free as usual, but with substantially more people voting than I’ve ever seen there—30 people in a town with only 600 potential voters had already signed the list of folks who voted. The poll workers cooed at our four month old son and we giddily filled out ballots with votes for Barack Obama and the only things that makes sense to our family: no on Prop 8.

This is only the second national election I’ve ever participated in, and even though I’m quite the blue state, it made me feel like I was getting away with something. I’m walking around all day feeling like I’ve thumbed my nose at the people on my street with McCain-Palin and Yes on 8 signs in their yards: The liberal educated people conservatives act so scared of? We’re in your election, voting for freedom.

Cori Boyko

Eli,

I grew up in Seattle, went to the University of Washington. Now I currently live in Los Angeles. My polling Location in West Los Angeles usually has about 30 people in line, this morning at 7:30 there were about 300 people wrapped around the block. I was going to bring my camera, but foolishly forgot it. In locations all over West LA my coworkers have reported similar. Most lines were flanked with no on prop 8 campaigners.

Even after living in LA for 4 years, I still read the slog every day to keep up on Seattle local politics.

Cheers,
Dan F