I had a plan. In my head, it sounded like a good plan. Very doable. But sometimes even good plans go awry.
My Monday was scheduled like this. Doctor appointment number one at 10:15. Doctor appointment number two at 2:15. In between, I planned to have some lunch and vote. Sounds simple enough, right?
I made it to the first appointment on time. No problem there. Half an hour later I was off to my local library to vote. When the bus got close, I saw this photo:
Uh Oh!!!
The line to get into the library was about a block long. The woman in charge of letting us in said it should take about an hour because they were admitting people in seven at a time. I checked my watch. No problem. I had more than two hours to get to the next appointment.
At the hour mark, I wasn’t inside the library…not even close. Decisions needed to be made. The woman directly behind me left. I was sticking it out.
About a half hour later, NBC5 News came onto the scene. They were interviewing people about why they were waiting in such a long line. I should have taken that as a bad sign. Still, I stayed.
We reached the front of the library at 2:05. I grabbed my phone and called my doctor’s office. I told them I was stuck in a voting queue and needed to postpone. Doctor’s appointments can be rescheduled; voting not so much.
By 2:30 I was done. They gave me this sticker:
When NBC interviewed me, I said, “Two hours in line is a small price to pay to save our democracy.” It didn’t get on the air, but just because they didn’t use it doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Tomorrow is your opportunity to try to save our democracy. Go get your sticker. Get out there and vote!
https://rj1340.substack.com/p/democracy-on-the-ballot-dude-we-lost