Signage of the Time

 One of the more memorable times I watched the elections was in Washington, D.C. November 2004. The Daily Show was on the tube and I was tying a flannel quilt as Dave and I watched the returns come in from across the nation. When you're on the East Coast, there is this sense that the West is the slow-poke, holding up the process. But West-Coasters get irritated with East Coast News Anchors who are calling races before the polls have even closed.

Here's a sign from that time.

 

The result of that race led to this sign on the Mall in January.

 

Which led to this sign.

Which I passed by on the way to this sign; where I stood for more than an hour while waiting to be frisked in the name of National Security, with lots and lots and lots of company. 

 

And here I stand in front of the sign for my section: West Standing. I heard some people in the Midwest were standing more than two hours in line today to vote. I guess the events of the last few years, with Electoral Colleges, judicial decisions, and hanging chads have reignited some recognition of our civic duty. We didn't have to wait at all this morning, when we went to the polls. We highlighted our electronic buttons with our two-eraser-headed electoral pencil, confirmed at the last screen and then waited. It sounded like an army of squirrels was inside, as each of the machines whirred and clicked and chattered their way to a confirmed hard copy. 

 

Speaking of hanging chads, I thought the name of the dog in the patrol was a nice ironic touch that freezing January 2005 morning. This morning I stuck on my "I Voted "sticker, went and taught my English class, and gave them a Get Out the Vote pep talk before they scattered into the late afternoon. Back home tonight we scan the news shows, wanting to hear of the races and the Dems Hope for the House, the final sign (below) indicative of All Things American: the news shows will parse, optimize (NBC's graphics were especially glitzy this evening), and we won't really know anything until the morning shows theorize on what this day has meant.