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blessed

Saturday evening at 5:45pm there was whooping and shouting and cheering and clapping at Wake Tech's Main Campus. What? You didn't hear us? It was the sound of relief and rejoicing as poll workers closed the door behind the last voter and took a few minutes to pause and laugh before starting the task of take-down and clean-up. There were many jokes of "we deserve a t-shirt that reads 'I survived the2012 Election' and I was very pleasantly surprised to look up at 6pm (I was on my knees pulling wrapped, unopened ballot packages from the cabinet) to find almost ALL of my fellow poll workers pitching in and helping the ballot table workers clean-up. And I think it's safe to say that TEAM was an accurate description for our site's pollworkers. For eleven days straight, strangers (or slight acquaintances) of different political parties and walks of life worked diligently to process the voters and ensure the process operated both accurately and quickly. It wasn't always easy. We had more than a few disgruntled voters and two irate political observers. During one of those rougher times, I sat down at lunch beside another worker. She was working the application (registration) table, and that morning they had encountered more than a few vocal voters (people who forget we're normal civilians and don't make the laws about voter id) and even had quite a few get a little ugly. She sighed, shook her head and said "Lord, let everything out of my mouth be pleasing to you" and then began to eat. It was so good to hear refreshing words in the midst of an emotionally charged situation.

I was reminded again this week of how perceptions aren't always truth, and how there can be more than one side to a story. I was energized by the smiles, enthusiasm and nervousness of first-time voters. You could recognize them right away. And I was thankful for the ones who waited in line for an hour just to stand in yet another line for the ballot table, and still approached us with a smile.

Democracy and freedom are precious. I would rather see someone vote the opposite way from me than not vote at all. It's a freedom no American should take lightly.

So if you haven't voted already, MAKE time to go vote tomorrow. Our democracy depends on it.

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