| | I voted today, even though it was just for mayor & school board, since I figured I might as well register at this address (prior to now, I've always voted at college). WOW, IT WAS UNCOMFORTABLE. The room was totally deserted except for me, my parents, one guy, and the volunteers, and I hated every second of it.
First, the volunteers had a faux-argument about who was going to sit down and walk me through the registration form (they seemed like they were joking with each other, but I felt embarrassed for not registering ahead of time and saving them the inconvenience, even though this way was more convenient for me).
Then the old guy beams at me and is like, "How old are you?", probably expecting me to say 18 or 19. I still automatically blurt out my age whenever I'm asked, but I think 23 is past the acceptable threshold for asking, because people always look awkward after I say it, apparently chagrined that they are dealing with A Legitimate Adult rather than a teenager. Regardless, I felt like a loser for being 23 and coming here with my parents, even though in the absence of a utility bill I needed them to vouch for my registration eligibility.
Then, I panicked when the form asked if I'd been previously registered under a different name/address, and obviously I was registered in my college town, but I was living in multiple places on campus and I can't remember if I had to specify my actual building of residence in said college town. Finally I decided to just put the school's address down, but then I blanked out on it, and while I was staring at the paper, the guy's like "it's very important that you fill out your previous address," as if I was stalling for time or trying to figure out how to get out of it. (Mercifully it came back to me at the last second.)
THEN, since I'd mentioned my parents being here (during another panic-stricken moment when I was like "Utility bill?! I don't have a utility bill!"), he called the random guy over to vouch for me and says "You know her, right?"
Guy: Uh, no...
Me: Um. My dad is the one over there.
FINALLY, I am registered, and feel silly walking across the vast and deserted conference room expanse to "privately" fill in all of two circles. But I do it...and then am promptly stricken with panic about where to put my completed ballot. Also HOW to put it in - faceup? Facedown? What is this weird machine that sucks it in?
It doesn't help that as I approach the box, two new guys volunteering are staring at me and whispering to each other (OMG, STOP LOOKING AT ME!) before they approach and ask if I'm the one who just registered, because if so...I forgot to fill out my driver's license number on the form. Way to make me paranoid.
And as a parting shot, the old guy sees me leaving, winks, and says "There, that wasn't so scary now, was it?", like, YES IT WAS, and also THANKS SO MUCH for implying that I had a look of sheer terror on my face the whole time. Which I probably did, because I have not had to personally interact with strangers outside of garage sales and cashiers for a very long time, and I was utterly perplexed about how to talk to them and what to say in order to get things taken care of - it was like navigating in a foreign language. People conducting Official Business are scary, even when they all appear to be retired senior citizens.
But at least I did it and don't have to do it again for a year.
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| | Posted 11/3/2009 8:06 PM - 1 View - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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