Alone on Election Night

In 2004 I was a senior in college, and so I voted for John Kerry via absentee ballot. I was excited about the teeeeeeny tiny pencil that came in the mail with my ballot. On election night, some sorority sisters and I sat in our living room watching the election returns come in. Eventually they all left to go do homework, watch in their own rooms, or do one of the many other things that college students do on a Tuesday night. I sat alone, glued to the TV.

In 2008 I was a first year grad student, and so I voted via absentee ballot yet again. A letter with my ballot told me that budget constraints meant that there were no more itty bitty pencils being shipped with the voting materials. On election night, my roommate was at her boyfriend's house, as she always was. So I sat alone in my living room, watching election coverage on our laughably small TV. For some reason I had decided to join Twitter that day, and so as I watched TV and constantly refreshed Facebook, I also tried to figure out what the fuck Twitter was.

This year, I was excited to a) finally vote for the President in person (because I love pressing buttons and getting stickers!) and b) watch the returns come in with a group of people. I had a plan for going to New Jersey to vote, and a party at a friend's apartment to head to afterward.

Hurricane Sandy fucked with the first part of that plan. There's still no NJ Transit service to my hometown, and so I decided to trek to Newark to vote early this past Sunday. I left my apartment at 6:48am, and by 9:40am I had cast my vote. I didn't get to press buttons because they had us fill out mail-in ballots, but at least I got a tiny pencil! I also didn't get a sticker, but I made one when I got home.

And as far as the second part of my plan, I ended up having to book a last minute trip to Florida, so I can't even attend the party I was invited to, which is a double bummer because unlike most of my other social plans, it was actually in my neighborhood. My flight is at 8pm tonight, and since Spirit SUCKSSOHARD Airlines doesn't have TV or wifi, I will be completely incommunicado during a pretty crucial 3 hours. So yet again, I will be completely alone on election night, despite being surrounded by people.

I'm overwhelmed just thinking about having 3 hours worth of social media craziness to catch up on when my flight lands at 11pm, but I'm mostly nervous about what I'm going to see when I can finally turn my phone on.

In 4 years when I reflect back on this election, where will I be able to say I was at the moment when I found out that (fingers crossed) Barack Obama was re-elected? Will I be on a plane, taxiing toward the gate? In a cab on the way to my grandma's house? Or maybe in my grandma's guest bedroom?

I hope that in 4 years I have somewhere more exciting to go on election night, where I can be surrounded by friends instead of having to just check in with them on Facebook.

But more importantly, I hope that in 4 years I'm voting for a continuation of the progress our country is making under Obama's presidency, and not for a reversal of 4 years of war on all things equality.

AMERICA! Let's do this.