My encouraging voting experience in Washington State

[sally343434]

Even though Kerry has Washington locked up, I thought I'd share my experience.

A fairly large ballot this time with many initiatives. Showed up at 7 AM (opening) and there were already about a dozen people there voting. It took about fifteen minutes for me in total because I was prepared. The person next to me was going through the voting pamphlet that comes in the mail while she was filling out her ballot.

They use Diebold optical scan machines here. You fill in the little circle next to your choices, then slide the ballot into the slot where it is immediately scanned for mistakes. It spits it back if it detects an error.

The counter on the machine showed I was ballot 19 so far that day and it was 7:15 AM. The poll worker quipped that it usually doesn't get to 19 until noon.

During the day, I was repeatedly asked by people if I had voted. I also asked many people I met today the same thing.

If it's like this across the country, I feel quite confident. All of the above observations, especially the intense interest shown by others as to whether I had voted or not (and vice versa), indicates an unusual level of enthusiasm.