Primarily Speaking - Early Voting Experience in Indiana

Lafayette, IN - May 5, 2008

Grocery shopping rarely features anything exciting besides sales and the occasional purchase of something from the broad category of things I really shouldn't eat. However, a trip to a local Payless on April 29 proved to give me the opportunity I had hoped for but believed that I had missed out on.

I wanted to vote early for the Indiana Primary. I wanted to get it done before I could possibly forget about it, because as a Democrat I feel as though my vote, this year, could count more than ever. Before, I simply voted for the Presidential election. I didn't care who won the Primaries. This year I am familiar with the candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and their stances on important issues. This year, I feel strongly about my own personal choice.

It was just meant to be a quick jaunt to the grocery store with my husband. I had my hands full of groceries when I turned a corner and was surprised to see two people, one middle aged man and a college aged young woman, sitting at a table, each working on a laptop. Three stalls, which I recognized as voting booths, were set up off to the side behind them.

Immediately, the girl perked up and chirped "Would you like to vote early for the primary?"

She was answered with enthusiastic "sure"s from both myself and my husband. There was no line to vote, and it was fairly quiet in the store, so I put down the groceries I was carrying on the table and proceeded.

Handing them my identification (which was difficult to decipher as Indiana has strange new pink drivers' licenses) the girl sorted out my voting district and then the gentleman loaded a voter's card for me to use. They told me to select whichever machine I wished to use, and after a brief moment of confusion with the voter's card in which I tried to slip it in upside down, I was off and voting. The computer used for voting were sophisticated, with touch screens that were easily navigated and large text fonts.