Election Day, 2008. Daywatch Diary.
6:00 AM -- Alarm goes off. The big day is here. NPR says lines are forming at polling places all over the East Coast. I am so psyched I can't stand it. Run to the computer and read every entry on Daily Kos, NY Times front page, and AJC.
6:30 AM -- Shower and get dressed. Let G. sleep a little more.
7:00 AM -- Back to the computer to read the updated "ride" spreadsheet, to see if I'd be driving anyone to the polls today. Overnight most riders had found drivers. Over the weekend many early voters were taken off the list. Impressive organizing effort from The Voter Drive, the brainchild of Adrienne Alexander.
7:30 AM -- Scoured Kos again, then Andrew Sullivan and TaNehisi Coates just to get a feel for the day.
8:00 AM -- Off to drive G. to school. Want to drive by Druid Hills H.S. and see if the line is long, but that will get me home late and I have to go check online about driving people to the polls today.
8:30 AM -- Margo comes by and we check the DeKalb County spreadsheet of folks needing rides to the polls. It looks like things are completely together...nobody needing rides. Pretty amazing. I have a quick online IM with one of the Voter Drive organizers and he says he'll call me on my cell during the day if anything comes up.
8:45 AM -- Margo and I head over to an Obama staging center on Krog Street in Inman Park where I'd done some phonebanking the day before. I look over to the left on Briarcliff at the Metropolitan Church, a polling place, and yes, there is a line, though not a substantial one, visible from the street. The weather couldn't be better for standing in line.
9:00 AM -- We stop for coffee at Starbucks and already the party atmosphere is evident. Everyone is smiling, shmoozing and Starbucks is basically giving away free coffee, whether you've got an "I Voted" sticker or not. Leaving Starbucks we run into Lucie Canfield and tell her to come over to Krog Street.
9:10 AM -- Things are hopping at Krog Street. Dene, the director, is sending High School students from Stone Mountain out to canvass and to leave door hangers. Abraham, my phonebanking buddy from yesterday, is wearing a shirt and tie, making me realize he might even be a paid Obama staff worker. Everyone else is waiting for instructions or diving right into phoning. The mood is jubilant and warm. We all have shit eating grins on our faces. We've got this thing nailed.
9:15 AM -- I finally get to meet Judi Knight, an amazing designer and entrepreneur who has turned her loft over to the Obama campaign as a staging site. Judi also does Bed & Breakfast in her loft...she uses the same booking agent I used when I was doing B&B at 1400 Emory. This is an amazing space, full of color and whimsy and creativity, so I'm thrilled to meet Judi in person because I already read her wonderful blog. Judi is -- surprise, surprise -- a former Paideia parent and it turns out that her youngest child graduated in '04 with my son Sam. We get a quick loft tour, and Margo, Lucie, Judi and I have a fun and intensive 4-way Paideia Mom playdate about kids and divorce and careers, before we dive into phoning.
11:00 AM -- My sister Emily reports in from New York City. She had an hour+ wait but had the same joyous experience waiting in line, a party feeling and a sense of history.
12:30 PM -- I'm phoned out. Most calls have been local and all are to Democrats, so we're generally in friendly territory. A remarkable number of people have already voted early, confirming the stats that something like 30% of the state has already voted. Staggering numbers. Unprecedented.
1:00 PM -- Voting is underway and orderly. Many who lined up at 6:30 am when the polls opened had to wait. Those who waited until later in the had virtually no wait time. I head home, passing a party-like line of voters at the Fire Station in Virginia Highlands who are sunning and chatting while they wait to vote. Stop home to get some stuff done before my 4-7 p.m. shift as a poll watcher at Liberty Baptist Church in the Old Fourth Ward.
2:00 PM -- Catch up on Kos, Sullivan, Huffington, Slate, Salon, AJC and the Times. Shit, what am I going to do when this is thing is over?
3:30 PM -- Head over to Liberty Baptist. Forget my chair. Dang. Hope I don't have to stand on my feet until 7 pm.
4:00 PM -- I relieve four people at Liberty Baptist, where things are very slow because the neighborhood has lost something like 300 units of public and private housing since the last election. The April March '08 tornado also did damage here and there just aren't that many voters in the precinct anymore. Among those on the earlier shift, Larry Gold, husband of Margo Dix Gold. We catch up and I when I mention that I'm starting my new job at GA Charter Schools Association, I learn that he was an advocate for House Bill 881 last year.
4:30 PM -- Jodi Mansbach and her son Eli join the watchers. Then Cynthia Case, a friend of Margo Geller, rolls up with her sister Candace. It's pretty clear there's nothing much for us to do here except sit and enjoy the ride. The sun is lowering in the west, the sky is getting a little pink and we're witnessing history just 1/2 a mile from MLK's Ebenezer Baptist Church.
5:00 PM -- Man, this thing is tight and organized. NAACP has a lawyer on duty who's been sitting in her car in the parking lot most of the day in case anything comes up. The "Comfort Team" from Obama HQ comes by to make sure we're OK. "You don't need to stay here until 7:00 pm," they tell us. "This precinct is under control."
6:00 PM -- We return the chairs to the church and learn that only 265 people have voted here all day. A dozen poll workers take our leftover water and snacks and we disband. On the way home I deliberately pass Manuel's Tavern, where the parking lot is already full.
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