The Lone Star Low Down: Democracy Inaction

It would have been cool to get a picture of

Avery by this sign but she is 2, which means

you can throw out any type of plans you have

for anything. Santa pictures are going to be

awesome....

Today mom, Avery and I stood in line at our local library so that we could cast our votes. Avery was wearing her "My Mamma's for Obama" t-shirt and I was wearing an Obama 08 pin on my sweater. After about 10 minutes in line a poll worker came up to me and told me that I had to put away my camera and the Obama button because they were both banned within 100 feet of the voting machines.

The camera I understand. But the Obama button makes no sense to me at all.

I am not a poll worker so it wasn't as though I was trying to intimidate anyone. And if you still haven't made up your mind by the time you get in line to vote you should probably NOT be allowed to cast your ballot. If you have made up your mind but then are swayed by someone in line wearing the opponent's name on her sweater, you should probably just be punched in the face and sent home.

Anyway, I did some research and according to the Texas Secretary of State, it is considered Electioneering to wear a campaign t-shirt, button, sticker, hat, etc. within 100 feet of the polls. I still have a hard time believing that this actually sways any votes, but I was happy to comply with the rules. Interestingly, however, Avery was allowed to stay with her t-shirt and was not asked to leave or change her clothes. Mom kept telling me that we were going to get Avery thrown in jail for breaking the law but I had a hard time believing it would ever come to that. Besides, 5 minutes with her and one of her tantrums or mood swings would have them handing her right back to us with all charges dropped on the condition that we never let her near them again.

After about 20 minutes in line (which, wow! So exciting that people are voting so early!), we made it inside and signed in to vote. I am not a straight ticket voter and I don't know enough about every race going on right now to vote for each person so I voted only for the races that I had read up on beforehand. Obviously the first vote was for President and I will tell you that it was emotional for me. I didn't stand there and cry or anything, but I did get a very cool feeling when I selected Obama. What a history-making election and I can't wait to see the outcome.

It was exciting to see all the people waiting in line to vote today. My neighbor told me that he waited for 45 minutes around noon today. We waited about 30 minutes but when we left the library the line to vote was much longer than it was when we got there. It is really going to be interesting to see the final numbers of voters when this is all over.

The line when we got to the library to vote.

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In other news, we are getting a cool front tonight and the high will only be 71 tomorrow. I love that kind of cool weather* when it is still very sunny outside. I am looking forward to wearing warmer clothes and finally feeling like it is fall. Taking pictures at the pumpkin patch when it is 90 degrees outside just seems wrong. (oh, shut up! 71 is cool for this part of Texas! It was 90-something on Halloween last year so any temperature in the "comfortable" range is nice to have, thankyouverymuch!)

Anyway, the cooler temperature gave me a chance to put Jack in a hat when we were hanging out with the neighbors tonight. I love him in hats because his hair is so blonde that he always looks bald. Not that he has a ton of hair, but still...it is long enough to spike slightly and the boy deserves a break from the bald jokes.