Early Voting in Cincinnati

My wife and I went out to vote Saturday, during early voting at the Board of Elections here in Hamilton County. For those who don’t know where the Board of Elections is, it’s located on Broadway, between East 8th and East 9th Streets.

We arrived at 9am; I had my coffee in hand. The line to vote stretched from Broadway, down and around the block onto Eggleston Avenue. It was long. We got into line, and almost immediately my wife began short conversations with others also standing in line. It wasn’t long until there were probably a half-dozen of us talking and laughing. We decided to make a ‘coffee and donut run’ but Servatii’s wasn’t open. Settling on crepes and coffee we returned to find the line had moved, but we were far from voting.

It was entertaining. A small horse was paraded up and down the line with an ‘Obama’ sign on it. People were working the line, talking about why we should or should not vote for a particular issue. We saw several politicians. We were not focusing on who’s a democrat or republican – we were entertaining ourselves, passing the time waiting to vote. Occasionally members of our party, including my wife would briefly engage in how and why political views differed.
No one engaged in name calling. Everyone remained civil and friendly with each other. Which, I thought was very interesting because several members of our little group had very different political views.

I have always thought, and this weekend confirmed my belief, that people have a very difficult time being disrespectful, angry, and hateful towards others with different views when in their presence. I know there are some exceptions to this rule. But, I believe that when we stand next to each other, look each other in the eye, even if we don’t or won’t ever agree with another’s view, we see that we’re all just people. We have parents, children, and a sense of humor, likes and dislikes.

We shared a lot with each other. I am thankful my wife suggested we vote Saturday.