I decided to head over and vote early this morning until waiting until I got home from work at 8. It was a beautiful morning and it couldn't have been a better start to the day. I've voted in every election every year since I became a California resident, and it always makes me feel good. It's the one time I really feel like I'm making a difference on a national level.

Since we moved a few months ago, I had to go to a new polling place. The one I used to go to was run by retired people. This polling place was in a church. I really didn't feel comfortable with that. They had signs on the wall like one with a picture of Earth that said "Without God, it's a vicious circle". Perfectly acceptable in a church. Not acceptable in a polling place. Maybe I'm the only one that feels that way, but until today I wasn't even aware that the government was allowed to conduct business in churches.

We used the Inkavote system, which seemed okay. I've used it in one or 2 previous elections. They were very good about telling us to inspect our ballots to make sure there were no smears, etc. The first time I voted, the dots weren't quite lined up with the circles and there were 2 small ink smears, so I had to do it again. The system was very easy to use, but obviously not any more foolproof than the old "hanging chad" method.