Ward 3A...and a Van Ride from Hell by Jackie

Election day is finally here! I woke up at 9:00 AM with butterflies in my stomach. It felt like Christmas morning, except at the end of this day I might kill myself or move to another country. It all depends on the polls baby! (Helllloooo Sweden! - Angela)

At 9:45 AM my Political Communication class met together outside of the Ely Building and piled into an "alleged" 15 person van. It was quite stuffy and with all the moving around and opening and closing of doors I saw one too many butt cracks. Nothing is wrong with a butt crack every once in a while but it was way too early.

We were headed to the different voting wards in Westfield to hand out surveys to voters. As soon as I sat down and buckled in, my T.S.D. (Temperature Sensitivity Disorder) started acting up. Angela complained of the temperature as well and of it smelling like bodies. My roommate Caity sat between us and controlled the digital camera.

"I feel like I'm on a road trip, only in a van filled with strangers who breathe heavy." - Angela

Angela and I were loud and acting a little obnoxious. Well I was acting a little obnoxious. We sat in the way back and Angela kept flailing around because a fly was buzzing around her. (I hate flies because they never know when to fuck off. Listen fly, I don't have any problem with you if you don't have any problem with me. But just stay in your turf and stop buzzing around.) She kept trying to hit it with a clipboard but it wasn't working. When it finally flew up towards the front of the van Angela started laughing and yelled to the other students, "Ha ha now you can deal with it!" They had no clue what was going on. (Those bastards.)

Sadly, Angela and I were separated and I was sent off to some school with my friend and fellow classmate, Jay. We surveyed some pretty crazy people! It was a lot of fun. I talked to a Vietnam Vet who was racing around in his scooter with a huge sign on the back of it saying GO VOTE. He seemed a little loopy, but I do know that he voted for Obama. When we first arrived at Ward 3A a cop came out telling us we had to be 150 ft. away from the premises or some crap. In actuality we could stay right in the front, even go in the building as long as we weren't promoting or trying to sway anyone's votes. We were simply handing out surveys. I didn't want to fight with a cop so I crossed the street. I did get the cop to fill out a survey though and he was the man. He told me he thought there shouldn't be dog racing and that weed should be legalized completely! I hope this guy pulls me over sometime.

Another guy who seemed to have lost his marbles found his way over to Jay and I. He said he voted for Obama because he wanted to vote for the person who was less smart...uhhh so that was weird. There was a toothless guy who talked to us about his Hockey interests and I am pretty sure he was a McCain fan. The best part of the ward was probably when a really cute dog came walking by and hung out for a few minutes.

(Meanwhile, Caity and I were at ward... 2B? It was pretty exciting, except I felt like a big newb. With the help of our teach' we gave out surveys. All of the "old people" loved me when I asked if they were first time voters. People were mostly nice, and because my prof was kind enough to find volunteers for us we avoided the awkwardness of being shut-downnnn by those who didn't want to be surveyed.

One of the last people I polled was an older gentleman. I asked him if he felt informed about health care and he said something to the effect of, "well, I'm just getting ready to die anyway..." Aren't we all?)

Thanks to (Doctor) Professor Tom Gardner for taking the photographs of survey takers/survey givers in action!