The Last Voter In Georgia

Another day spent in sequestration in Dallas (Dallas, Georgia) but this time with a twist - at around 5:00 pm, I was finally admitted into the courtroom to testify!  Which really isn't as much fun as I just  made it sound.  The cross-examination was even worse.  But the good news is that it's finally over and I can go back to life as usual.  A big weight lifted off my shoulders.

I didn't get to leave Dallas, Georgia until around 6:45 and I tried to rush home because it's Election Day and I hadn't yet voted.  It's an off year politically in most states, but here in Atlanta we're voting for a new mayor and are replacing something like two thirds of the City Council.  By definition, this is going to be a transitional year in Atlanta politics.  I tried to rush home but was faced with multiple, and by multiple I mean very, very, many, long-ass traffic lights, traffic, and some sort of rolling police barricade or something less than two blocks from the polling place.  There was a very large, oversized truck, a couple fire engines, and a bunch of police cars, all with lights flashing, moving extremely slowly down the road, and I thought, as the last minutes before the 8:00 p.m. closing time for the polls ticked away, that despite my best efforts, I wasn't going to make it after all.

But I did, pulling up to the polling place at 7:59 and parking illegally because I was in a rush and didn't have time to park elsewhere.  I got in and showed my licence at a nearly empty precinct just as someone announced, "Polls closed!"

But I got in first before the call, so they let me vote.  I may or may not have cast the very last vote in the City of Atlanta, but I sure as hell did cast the last vote at my polling place.  There are 12 candidates running for mayor this year, and the early results show my candidate (Cathy Woolard) still very much in the running, but then again, that's probably just because 0% of the vote is in.

I don't know who's going to win, but the smart money says that with 12 candidates running, no one is going to get the required 50% of the vote and this thing's heading to a run-off.  But at least I got my vote in, and the best part is I don't have to go back to Dallas (Georgia) tomorrow.