But We Didn't Get an "I Voted" Button!

Karen and I voted this morning. We went at about 10:30 and found relatively short lines. We were in and out fairly quickly and now have the rest of the day to take care of a few errands and await the TV news marathon of tonight, maybe tomorrow, and (heaven forbid) the rest of the month.

We live in Election District 01 of Representative District 37. We're in the Lewes part of the District, which I think was pretty severely gerrymandered after the 2000 Census. Note the long reach from the rural, conservative area south of Georgetown up to grab Lewes and Edgewater Estates -- home, at that time, to Representative John Schroeder, a democrat, who lost his reelection bid in 2002. John lost a close vote to a Georgetown-area Republican fixture, former Georgetown Mayor and Indian River School Board member Joe Booth. But that's another story.

We parked about half a block away from the old Lewes Middle school (now the Ninth Grade Campus of Cape Henlopen High School), where we have voted for most of the last two decades.

As we walked up to the school, a Lewes Fire Company ambulance came up the street, with lights and sirens, and pulled into the driveway. Not a great omen. In the end, however, the lights and siren were cut off and the ambulance turned around and left again. A false alarm? Election-day mischief? Who knows.

We circled around the entrance to avoid the electioneering out front. Joan Deaver -- local activist -- was there; she knows me and so called out to encourage me to vote for Jud Bennett. Jud's running for County Council as a Republican but sounding like a democrat. Elections can be fun. I assured Joan that I planned to vote for someone, but I prefer not to get into details.

Just up the sidewalk, I saw George Elliott, a Lewes retiree who appeared in the "Swift Boat Vets" add attacking John Kerry. I hadn't seen him around much since that all flared up. I had no desire to talk to him today, but I at least have a story to take away from the day.

We voted. For myself, I can say that I voted for some Democrats on our ballot and for some Republicans. Here in Delaware we are generally somewhat bipartisan and we have sent a few good Republicans to Washington and Dover and will continue to do so.

But we didn't get "I Voted" buttons! Oh Well.