Julia finished up her work early, so she decided she might as well take advantage of early voting. Grabbing her voter registration card, she confirmed her precinct number and then went on the internet to locate her polling place. Fortunately it was in the same place she had voted in last year, the Revson Arms Retirement Home. The "Arms" was on her way home, so it was very convenient for her.
When she arrived she felt a bit overdressed, with most of the other there voting just off shift at one of the nearby chemical plants. They all wore badly stained blue, red and gray overalls, with heavy duty work boots and work gloves stuffed in their pockets. Some even still wore their hard hats and safety glasses. Julia guessed they expected trouble at the polls this year.
Not wanting to mess up her work clothes, a stunning sleeveless blouse with matching chemise cardigan and a contrasting skirt, she kept her distance from the others. The last thing she needed was an oil stain on her expensive clothes. Her boots weren't the heavy duty work boots, they leaned a bit closer to the boots from the old Nancy Sinatra song. Unfortunately, these boots weren't made for walking, so her feet were beginning to ache.
The line slowly moved closer and closer to the entry into the polling area. A number of the people in line were looking closely at the sample ballot posted on the wall. Without being too obvious, she stared at each person scanning the sample ballot, trying to figure out who they were voting for.
Figuring most of the guys were union members, she guessed that many would vote democratic, but occasionally she saw someone who she just knew would spin that dial to a large number of the red squares. And then she spotted a couple, both with long, straight hair, flowery shirts and some actual bell-bottomed jeans. Yes, they had to be voting independent. Of course, in the end she was just guessing. That was the beauty of it all, each individual could make individual choices without interference or undue influence from anyone or anything. Not one to chant the pledge of allegiance at the top of her lungs every chance she got, she did feel a certain pride in the system.
Of course politics in this day and age meant character assignation, innuendo and unsubstantiated claims were showered down on voters until many just didn't care. With less than fifty percent of the people voting in most of the elections, any results really didn't really mean a candidate was chosen by a majority of constituents, no they were elected by the few who weren't turned off elections, too bored or just too busy to vote. Julia swallowed hard to hold down the bile and remain proud of democracy.
When she finally passed through the door, she handed the lady at the computer her voter registration card, signed a piece of paper and was handed a different piece of paper with her code on it. She nodded as the woman gave her instructions on how to use the "new" electronic machines. New hell, this must be the third or fourth time she had voted on the machines.
Taking her code, she found an open booth and stepped up to it, entering her code number and pressing the start button. She quickly began turning the dial watching the different political races light up. Just as she clicked on the first candidate, she felt something brush up by her thighs and she glanced down thinking, "Hmm, this is new." There, between her, legs was a metallic lever or something she had never seen before.
