Conversation with My Wife (177)

Vote! We did!

Email from the state voting certification office, received less than four hours after we dropped off our ballots. This was going to be a cute selfie of Deb and me putting our ballots into the drop box at the county voting office. Instead, the lobby was so busy I was afraid of holding people up. Plus, there were LOTS more people than would fit into a small lobby while allowing social distancing, and I was starting to feel anxious, which makes for even worse selfies than my usual poor photos.

We had both gotten our ballots this week, so why not swing by downtown York, Pennsylvania and drop them off? My original thought was that I would let out Deb at the curb, she’d run in and drop hers off, then we’d do a frantic driver swap and I’d rush mine in¹. Maybe there might be a little traffic, so the one in the driver’s seat would have to circle the block, but downtown York on a Friday morning? Crowds would be SO not a problem. Then Deb pointed out that parking was a little over a block away, it would cost maybe 75¢, and why not.

DEB: And we could use the points!

Which is what she says when we could walk a longer distance than we might be inclined, otherwise. She has a Fitbit, I have an Apple Watch, they both manage to emote feelings of disdain for their lazy human masters if we don’t keep moving during the day.

So we park. And we walk. And there’s the York County Administrative Building, with… a bunch of people all over? Huh?

Not a crowd, mind you, but we’ve been to this building in the past—the building houses offices for voting, taxes, and marriage licenses—and this was unusual. People walking out, people walking in, people milling out front. We tentatively joined the folks —wearing masks, thank you, people!—entering the building, and found ourselves in the small (maybe 15 feet by 20 feet?) lobby. Some people seemed to be waiting. One person was explaining some piece of paperwork to another while a third looked on. And some, like us, wondered where the drop box was.

Maybe it’s the thing over there? With “OFFICIAL BALLOT DROP BOX” on the top?

The official ballot drop box for York County, PA. Photo courtesy of WHP-TV, because I was too rattled to take one.

Deb’s ballot goes in, mine goes in. Mission accomplished!

ME: Okay, that was much busier than I anticipated!

DEB: (on exiting, and seeing a continuous stream of people, mostly older persons, going into the building) What that tells me is that we are not the only ones worried about the Post Office letting us down, Jackster.

ME: But at least people are voting!

¹Wouldn’t it be easier to have one person deliver both? Yes. Also illegal. Only the voter can deliver the ballot. Somehow I had a feeling that someone might be stalking the dropbox to try to catch multi-ballot mules in the act.

Copyright ©2020 by Jack Herlocker. All rights reserved, but if you want to use this to encourage people to vote, you go right ahead!

Conversations with My Wife (collection)