I actually voted early in the fine state of Montana. It was my first election too, and I was excited. The U of Montana College Democrats arranged for Governor Brian Schweitzer and the mayor of Missoula to come join us at our University campus, and we marched to the Missoula courthouse together on the first day of early voting. I actually was the first to cast my ballot, and I just felt so relieved. Afterward, I got interviewed by the local paper, but my comments didn't make it in. Coolest experience ever.

Got in line right at 7 am and waited for 2 hours. It was a bit frigid, but looking around at the sea of diverse faces made me remember why I was there. I have to say I got a little misty-eyed when an African-American woman walked by the line with her son because she said she wanted him to see history in the making. :-)They didn't give out stickers at my polling place though, I was super bummed.

Well, this is a big election in my family. I turned 18 last year, so this is my first presidential election!

But also, after several years of pestering, I convinced my mom to register to vote with me. So at 50 years old, this is her first presidential election, too.

We went to the polls together at 6:30 this morning.

Two more votes for Obama in the ever-important state of Virginia!

I'm so glad I voted via absentee ballot. I have classes all day and it would be very difficult to get to the polls, especially with the long lines. I'm just sad the mail-in ballot doesn't come with an "I Voted" sticker.

Props to all of you who braved long lines and icky weather!

A reminder to those of you with absentee ballots: at least here in CA, your ballot must be received by today - a postmark is not enough! So if you still have yours, drop it off in person at the polls; just tell the poll worker you're dropping off an absentee ballot and they will probably let you to the front of the line.

Well my first time actually voting was in the 2004 election, but I was in college at the time and that wasn't as exciting because I had to vote absentee. So the first time I actually went to a polling place to vote was during the primaries this year and that was a pretty awesome experience. Awesome because I never thought I'd be voting for a female president (even though she didn't make it to the general election I was soooo proud to cast my primary vote for Hillary Clinton) and also awesome to see how this whole voting this actually worked. That time I voted electronically.

Today I woke up at 5AM so I could be one of the first in line to cast my vote for Obama. And let me say this experience was just as awesome as during the primaries. I was hesitant about Obama after the primaries because I really wanted Clinton to win the nomination and even though I knew I'd still always vote for Obama I wasn't excited about it. But in the past few months that has all really changed. I've listened to Obama speak and learned more about his policies and could not have been more excited to cast my vote for him this morning. I could hardly sleep last night I was so excited actually. I was the 10th person in line to vote in my district. And this time I used a paper ballot so now I feel as though I've utilized ever possible way to vote in an election! But it really almost made me tear up when I marked my vote for Obama because this election is so important and I really do believe that with him as president this country can get back on track. And it's always awesome to be able to place a vote for Jan Schakowsky (best Representative ever!).

So to sum up my voting experience: awesome in every way :)

I didn't have to wait in line, but the people at the polls marked through my dad's name instead of mine. Hopefully, he'll still get to vote.

I voted early on my campus in California which was great because I have class all day today. It was my first time voting in a Presidential election! I was extremely nervous and had to recheck my votes several times. There is not much to my story other than my vote for Obama and a big fat NO on 4 and 8! (And various other ones)

This was my first election in NY, and the first time I have ever used a mechanical voting machine (Travis County, TX went straight from paper to computer voting). NY has like 6 parties on the ballot, it's crazy! I was completely overwhelmed by the choices, and by the machine itself (I accidentally forgot to vote on some ballot initiative that was way in the corner - something about veterans benefits?) So I voted for the Working Families candidate : Barack Obama.

Way to go party fusion and cross-endorsement! I do not identify as a democrat, so I like being able to vote for a candidate I want to win and give my vote to a party I can identify with.

Now off to Starbucks for a Coffee and Babes in Toyland for a vibe ;)

I live in a small New England town. Polls opened at 8:00; we were there about ten minutes after; no waiting, paper ballots, home again before 8:30. Voting that easily should be a basic civil right for all Americans.

At 5, I dropped my 16 year old off at the polling place where she is working as an election judge today (yay Mikva Challenge!). Then I went home. I can see my polling place from my living room window, so when I noticed a line, I went down and got in it. I was the 8th person to vote in my precinct. By the time I finished with my ballot (around 6:15) the line was about 20 people long.

Everyone was in good spirits, and the election judges had everything humming along (at least at that hour.)

Casting votes for Obama, Durbin, and Schakowsky (I'm with you there, llevinso) felt amazing.

Also, the weather in Chicago is gorgeous, so it's actually pleasant to be standing outside waiting. Perhaps some deity is smiling upon us today.

I am currently an 18 year old college student in Ohio so this was my first election too! Ohio has early voting, so I actually voted a couple of weeks ago. Also I was able to vote IN Ohio, rather than absentee to New York, which was nice.

The experience was fun, and I did get a sticker. One thing that stuck out at me though was the fact that I was told by everybody that if I wore any campaign logos I would be barred from voting. When I checked "fightthesmears.com" or whatever Barack Obama's smear fighting website is, they said this wasn't true. I wondered if I was told that as some kind of way to intimidate people into not voting?

I'm teaching all morning, so I'm going to vote after lunch. The polling place for my neighborhood is the county library, where the retired ladies from the local Lutheran church hand out coffee and homemade cookies while you wait in line. Yep, a sticker and a cookie. It's like a good day at preschool.

But it's kind of depressing for me because this is the first time I've ever lived in a red state (WA and CA before moving to WY), so it feels kind of pointless because my vote totally doesn't count. But the race for our only House rep is too close to call, so at least my vote will matter there.

And I know that there are a lot of mixed feelings about Nader, but I would love to see a third party get more support. I had just moved to WY right before the last election cycle, and my friends from the coast were like "don't you dare vote for Nader," but by the time I went to vote in the late afternoon WY had already gone red, so I voted for Nader just on principle. And think about this: Ron Paul's popularity in Montana may be the thing that wins the state for the Dems. So third party voting doesn't always work against us.

This isn't my first time voting. Last presidential election I think I forgot to register for an absentee ballot in time, not realizing that I had to do so (there wasn't such a gung-ho approach to getting the word out as there was this year! Though since I live in NY, thanks to the electoral college it didn't make a difference). And the one before that, I was too young. I had voted for local races- senate and school budgets and such. I always feel very special being able to vote for anything.

Anyway, I work in Manhattan and live in Brooklyn. And at my current job, it's often hard to say when I get home (that's a whole other story). So I woke up at 5am to get to the polls when the opened, to make sure I didn't miss out this time. I was in & out in about 15 minutes. I've had butterflies in my stomach all night! I hope it all goes well!

This is my second time voting...but honestly, my first time being an informed voter. I can honestly say that I knew just about all of the candidates names that were running and have seen most of them in interviews, read their platforms, joined their listserves or visited their websites this election. That includes Barack Obama, John McCain, Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr all of which appeared on enough state ballots to technically win the election (either by write-in or otherwise). It saddens me that few media outlets gave voice to such differing ideas about how to make this country better than it is and I think it's strategic to do so. Many of the candidates challenged the norm of corporations having the most influence on campaigns and the platforms of the two major political parties (Dems and Repubs.) and that's threatening to those currently in power.

I most definitely would love to see the Green Party's nominee Cynthia McKinney in office(not to mention the first women of color Presidential ticket!). However, I live in a close race state and I couldn't bare the thought that McCain might win here...so I compromised some of the human rights values I hold and cast my ballot for Obama. I feel like I made a very informed decision and that my activism is just getting started. We still have to hold all of these officials accountable. See you out there! :)

ps. Democracynow.org is a great place to get your news from...about the election/world news/etc. without the corporate conglomerate media behind it.

I'm 21, so this is my first presidential election, though not my first major one (I voted in the NJ gubernatorial election in 2005, then in VA's when I moved there in 2006, as well as a VA state senate election last year).

I ran home from my 9:30 class, grabbed my voter registration card and about 3 documents proving that I live in my apartment, and walked up the street to the church that is my local polling place. I was in and out in 20 minutes, including the walk to and from.

While my own voting experience was uneventful, I did see one girl at my polling place get turned away because she was wearing a McCain T-shirt and had nothing to cover it up. Apparently wearing partisan clothing to the polls isn't allowed. They did it to someone in an Obama shirt as well (who pulled her jacket back on), but I still found it amusing.

I live in southwest Ohio--a conservative republican stronghold. I got to the polls at 6:15 am--15 minutes before opening and waited about an hour to vote. We use paper ballots that are scanned by an optical scanner--which jammed on my ballot. The poll workers told me I'd have to trust them when I asked how we knew my vote was recorded. By the time my husband voted they were collecting ballots in a file folder "to be scanned later" since the optical scanner was not working. As a democratic voter in this staunchly republican area, I can't say I am sure my vote for Obama counted. I did come home and file a complaint with the Ohio Secretary of State. Boo:(

Polls opened at 7:00 here in Oklahoma City and so I was up and at my polling place by 6:15 to stand in line. I was maybe the 10th person or so, and by the time the doors opened at 7, the line was a good 70 people deep.

Oddly enough, as I was standing in line chatting with folks from my neighborhood, the election workers pulled up to unload all of the ballots from their car - which was covered in McCain stickers and various other local Republican candidate stickers. It felt odd to me that the 25 or so of us in line watched the McCain supporters prepared to faciliate our voting experience. Just odd.

I have voted for every presidential election since 1996, when I was first old enough. However this year holds a different air. Something is more charged and we are seriously ready for change. I swear I had butterflies in my stomach as I cast my vote. It was nice.

It was also nice to drive away, down the road and honk at the huge display of "honk for Obama" signs and supporters with Obama signs. GO OBAMA!

I voted for the first time today. Frankly, it was awesome. The polls opened at 7am and I was there by 7:30am practically skipping my way to the end of the line... I also had butterflies in my stomach as I got closer and closer to the front. When I was finally able to fill in my bubbles, I checked it over probably 15 times to make sure I didn't mess up... What an amazing power we are given by casting our vote. I wasn't sure if I believed in the power of one vote, but it sure felt like it when I was voting today! The only bad part of my experience was that there were definitely a lot more McCain supporters in that line than I was comfortable with... I'm from MN and I hope Obama wins our state!

I've been voting for about 20 years here in Enfield, NY (population: somewhat less than 3000). Things that were different today: 1) the parking lot overflowed onto the school lawn, 2) someone under the age of 70 was a poll worker! and a hippie!!, 3) they provided double the usual number of voting machines (2 per voting district) and the line moved really fast. Also, I went at 10:30, which is the middle of the workday for a lot of people, so I don't know what it was like early or what it's going to be like tonight after work. Huge turnout for mid-day in the boondocks, though.

This weekend my spouse got word from his company that they were sending him out of town on an emergency business trip Monday early through Thursday.

He was beside himself with anxiety thinking he wouldn't get his chance to vote for Obama and against Prop 8 (CA). Luckily we still had the opportunity to do early voting. We waited in line for two hours (I went to keep him company and get my voting done too). We were both almost in tears of relief afterwards.

I've worked for Election Protection and other groups trying to safeguard the right to vote, but never had to be concerned about my family's rights. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight until I know that Prop 8 is defeated. My husband's out of town and I'm off to my local GLBT community center to hold hands with everyone else. I can't say I felt this much anxiety even in 2000. I couldn't believe back then that they would steal the election. Now I believe it can happen.

Gosh, reading these posts is making me cry! We're making history, and we're excited about it, and it's amazing, and even though I missed being the first voter today at my local polls (I was #2) this will be a day I am sure we will all remember.

I wish I could vote in this election. I am Canadian and have had the chance to vote in three federal elections but I abstained each time because I was so utterly underwhelmed by all of the candidates. But I have been a passionate observer of this campaign for the past two years and although I believe Obama will win I am truly terrified that the election will be won fraudulantly by McCain.
Good news for Canada is that although we have a conservative government at the moment, there is a man by the name of Michael Ignatieff who is poised to become the leader of the Liberal Party and I have to say that he inspires me nearly as much as Obama. He was a professor in Harvard, a war-time journalist and a human-rights activist for pretty much all of his adult life. I can only hope our better instincts will be inspired by an Obama victory so we too can elect a genuinely caring, intelligent and inspiring leader.

I voted in Oakland, CA this morning in my first presidential election. I arrived at 7:20(the polls open at 7am here)and had to wait 45 minutes in line to vote. There were only six voting booths at my polling place. After voting I went out with my No on 8 sign! I am so excited to have voted for Obama and No on 4 & 8!

This was my first presidential election in Oregon, and the first in which I had voted by mail. I hadn't realized how much pride I felt in being part of the civic process until I realized how sharply I missed having an "I Voted" sticker to wear. =)

My voting experience started last night when I couldn't fall asleep because it felt like Christmas Eve for me. During the course of the night I had nightmares about not being able to figure out how the voting machine worked, hanging chads, blotchy ink, and McCain supporters being allowed to campaign inside my polling place.

I woke up about 2 hours prior than I normally do (because it's practically Christmas and I'm ready to open my voting presents!) I dawdled around my apartment for a bit before finally getting ready to head out to vote. I've moved to a new county since the last election, so my new voting place is just around the corner from my apartment. I got my iPod and sample ballot and walked to my polling place.

Standing in line was different for me, because I've never stood in line to vote before. Though, I suppose I'm lucky because there were only about 3 people in line ahead of me. I'm new to the area, so of course I was nervous that I wouldn't be on the roster and would be made to use a provisional ballot (My mom and I had to do that in my first or second election and it was not a fun experience. The lady at the polls didn't even want to let us cast our provisionals because we weren't on the rosters). My name was on the fancy blue roster, I was given my ballot, and then had to wait for a booth.

When it was finally my turn to vote, I became extremely nervous and started sweating. Luckily I was able to figure out how to make the ballot machine worked, there were no chads, the ink wasn't blotchy, and there were no campaigners in sight. I double checked my vote prior to casting it, and then triple checked the entire ballot prior to turning it in. I received my "I Voted" sticker (always a prized possession), put it on my shirt and am still wearing it proudly.

I currently live in a swing state. Unfortunately, I was not able to vote here. For lots of reasons, I didn't establish residency for the first few months after I moved here. Then, I went out of town for a month (September into October).

When I was out of town, I saw the ways the polls were going, saw that my state was pretty close, and decided to establish residency, get my drivers license and register to vote in this state.

Sadly, the Monday after coming back (October 6), our car broke down. By the time we had gotten it fixed, I was too late to register to vote.

I was so mad.

But then I applied for an absentee ballot from where I AM registered so that I wouldn't miss my chance to vote. It came in the mail two weeks ago, I filled it out, and sent it back the same day.

But it's so strange that it feels like my vote won't count as much because it's not being cast in a state that has a close race. I'm not feeling much love for our electoral vote process right now.

My first time voting was when I was 18 in 2004 and I absentee voted because I was in college and out of state.

I voted in this election last Friday while breastfeeding my 7 month old in a sling! Not only did I vote, but I got to help de-sexualize breasts while doing it!

Tonight I'm going to an election night party. Woohoo!

I voted early in Wisconsin yesterday. It was very cool - I arrived at my city hall before 8 AM (when the doors opened) and there was already a line of 15-20 people! Everything went very smooth. The only downside of the whole experience was that they weren't giving away "I voted" stickers. The upside was that I didn't have to get up extra early this morning. :)

This is my second presidential election, and I feel a lot more confident about my candidate this time. I'm looking forward to celebratory margaritas instead of sorrow drowning straight tequila tonight!

Any Sconnies who may not be registered - you can register at the polls and vote. Call 1-877-OBAMA-WI for more info.

YAY VOTING!

i woke up at 4, left around 5, got to the library at 5:11. polls opened at 6 (VA)i was in and out in 7 minutes. i was the 8th person to vote (that has to mean something good...). i was apparently the only one who knew how to use the machines so far, so 1 out of 8. when i got out i checked the line, i'd say about 200 people were there. the workers were very unorganized and moved slowly, it took the woman who checked off my name 5 minutes to find it. they had two lines, unmarked oh by the way, A-K and L-Z, that were perpendicular to the line making it difficult, and they were right next to the door of the room that had the machines, confusing for people and slowing the line up. i just drove by there again and there wasn't anybody there, not outside at least, so i'm a little disappointed about that, i'd like to see at least a small line.
when i got home i started crying, and have been tearing up all day. i'm so worried mccain is going to win; i'm moving to france if he does.

my mom's friend said that there were about 500 people ahead of him (also VA), and this was at 6:15.

Alas, I can't vote... melives in Germany. But nevertheless I'll go to an Obama-Support-Party organzied by the student's body of English language and literature studies. I'm so excited for you all!
For days our news programmes have been overflowing with your election, how huge the numbers of first-time-voters are and stuff.

I voted a couple of weeks ago via absentee ballot for the state of NJ. I've lived in NY for 5 years now, but am still registered where I grew up.
I'm not a huge Obama supporter, but I voted for him. I would rather have him in the White house over John McCain, and especially over Sarah Palin (it was her nomination for VP that made me decide to vote for Obama rather than a third-party nominee in the first place). I'm very nervous about tonight, and my hope is that election is decided fairly.
I must say, too, that although I'm not completely in favor of Obama, I felt much more comfortable voting for him than I did voting for Kerry in '04 (my first presidential election). He seems like he has the charisma and the intelligence to make it. I hope he does.

My parents registered me as a dual Canadian-American citizen shortly after birth, but I've never had a US residence. This year was the first that I found out you don't necessarily need that to register to vote. So I signed up, and sent in my absentee ballot a week or two ago.

I went to vote at 5:45 AM and waited in line for over an hour! There is a definite air of excitement here in Chicago, and has been all week. I've been getting standing ovations every day when I pass by the gay coffee shop with my Obama buttons on. Pretty much everyone I've talked to is hoping to go down to the rally tonight.

I have to say, I felt SO proud voting for Obama this morning. When I was drawing the little line to make the arrow complete, I felt that I was doing something very important. I am grateful that I have been able to vote for Barack Obama for State Representative, Senator, and now President. I am grateful that he brings honesty, intelligent discourse, and respect back to politics. I am so proud of him and our country. I'm proud that people who were born as second-class citizens into our nation were given the opportunity to vote for Barack Obama today. I am proud that children born in the future will grow up with living proof of their potential, regardless of race. I am so proud that I will be able to tell my children that I cast my vote for Barack Obama today.

I turned 18 last year, so this is my first major election. I live in Illinois, but go to school right across the river in Iowa, so I registered to vote in Iowa since I live here 9 months out of the year and it's not always a liberal state. I caucassed (I'm usually a great speller, but I have no idea...) for Obama in January, and felt amazingly powerful doing so. I early voted on campus a couple weeks ago, so today I'm just waiting for the results. I was a little sad that I didn't get an "I voted" sticker, but hopefully it won't matter when Obama wins today.

Also, my boyfriend voted in his first election in Illinois today, and we discussed how if we get married, we will be beaming with pride when we tell our children that our first election was this monumental, and we were a part of it. :-)

Hey, Shiftercat, that's really interesting. Those of us who are Canadians but living in the US can't vote in Canadian elections if we haven't lived in Canada in the past few years. My mother, who's 74, has never voted in a government election, since she left Canada when she was 18 and never took US citizenship (she refused to take the oath, in which you're required to foreswear allegiance to any other country, and she wasn't willing to disavow Canada).

She's moving back to Ontario next year and is looking forward to voting. In the meantime, living in the US she's volunteered for the Obama campaign and is doing what she can. I have dual citizenship and pulled the lever for Obama in the Working Families Party column.

I've been voting for longer than some people here have been alive, but it was still exciting. I didn't feel historic until today, just desperate to see the Republicans out of office. Now it's sunk in that I may have helped elect the first Black president of the US. I don't know if I can stand waiting until the polls close in HI to learn who the next president is.
They were out of "I Voted" stickers :(.

I was sooooo excited to vote this morning! I went to the polls around 8:30 and the line was around the block. I was nervous because I hadn't voted in this state before and the machines were different than what I was used to, plus I always get nervous at the polls - so afraid of accidentally voting for someone I don't want in office!
My boss just sent an e-mail around our office saying that due to the expected long lines at the polls, we could leave early. If I hadn't worn my "I voted" sticker all day I'd say I still had to vote and get the hell out of here and follow the election nonstop the rest of the day. ;) Oh well. Back to work for me...but hopefully we'll all be celebrating Obama's win tonight!!!

I made sure to take my 5 year old with me today to the polls. She may not realize just how important historically today is, but she knows it was important to a lot of people to show up and vote. (And getting a voting sticker was the highlight of her day!)

I live in rural Ohio in a teeny tiny township, where the election officials have known you since you were a baby and the grange building we vote in is no bigger than my office at work, and this was the first time I ever had to wait in line to vote (though thank goodness the 20 minutes I was there was nothing like the hour to two hours my co-workers all had!) I am pretty sure my county will go to McCain, let's just hope the rest of the state doesn't go that way!

Although I've been living in New York for several years, I still vote absentee for my parents' address in Nashville, Tenn., where I figure my Democratic votes have more chance to make a difference.

Unfortunately, in Tennessee, my votes don't really count, at least not this year: McCain's lead over Obama there is much higher than in a lot of the south, although Nashville (which with its many hospitals, colleges and music execs has a lot of people who are educated, minority, and/or from elsewhere) always votes Democratic.

Also, the area of Nashville where my parents live comprises the end of a gerrymandered tendril of the seventh congressional district, which is one of the state's most conservative: It's the wealthiest district, it's pretty rural and it contains the rich, white suburbs of Nashville and Memphis as well as Fort Campbell. Its very conservative congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn, is unfortunately not going anywhere anytime soon and wasn't even opposed by a Dem on the ballot this year.

Anyway, I voted! I didn't receive my absentee ballot till Thursday, so I Priority Mailed it on Friday.

I am currently living in Cambridge, UK as a student in the University of Cambridge, so I voted a couple of weeks ago. Granted, I assume it wasn't as exciting as voting today, I did sent my absentee ballot with pride. It was my first time voting too!! Now I have to wait until 5am to see who wins! :)

I voted today at 10am.

I got in the booth and looked at the light-up board/touch screen thing (I'm in PA) and saw "Barack Obama/Joseph Biden" and couldn't believe the moment had actually arrived. I was nervous and pushed on the wrong part at first, so the little red light didn't come on. I figured it out, though, and voted a straight Democratic ticket. Not quite as satisfying as pulling a big lever in NYC in '96, but I got the job done.

My dad (age 68) voted today for the first time since 1984. Reagan won that year, and he was turned off politics for good. Or so he thought...until this election. He didn't know where or how to register, but an Obama campaign volunteer knocked on his front door a few weeks ago and had the forms for him to fill out and sign then and there. My dad has cataracts and can't see well enough to read the touch screen, so today a poll worker patiently read the whole ballot to him and double-checked to make sure his vote went through correctly.

I haven't been this excited since 1992, which was my first election. I remember all the cheers erupting from every window in every dorm each time a state turned blue as the results were rolling in and Bill Clinton crossed the finish line. Having grown up during the Reagan/Bush years, it felt monumental to begin adulthood with a Democrat in office. I can only imagine how happy the kids at Wesleyan today will be when (please, God) Obama wins.

It felt powerful this time, maybe even more than in '92. I'm 34, and I look back at more than 2/3 of my life spent with Republicans in power, and think it's high time that shit changed. I wish that damn touch screen made some noise when my vote went through, because I wanted to shout "Obama!" before I left the booth. I didn't, though.

I live in a predominantly black neighborhood in Philly, and there's nary a house or business without an Obama sign on the lawn or in the window, so if he takes it tonight, the roof is gonna rip off this place. Philly will be JUMPING.

I'm nervous at the thought that some kind of nefarious bullshit might happen and put McCain's conservative ass in office, but I'm trying to quiet that thought and just enjoy the day.

I posted about my experience here. Forgot to mention, though, that my husband drove by our old polling place after dropping me off at school and said that there was a long line coming out the door there too, which was really unusual - especially after 11 a.m.!

When I got to my polling place, there were two people voting (one at each of the two machines), and a third having his name located on the voter rolls. I waited about a minute (the two little old ladies who work the polls are a bit slow), then it was my turn to have my name found. I was the 173rd person to vote there that day. Voted (straight ticket, plus the sewer improvement bond issue), and left.

While I was there, the two poll-ladies also helped a guy who they couldn't find on the list--they told him the other place he should try, and to get a provisional ballot if they didn't have him on the list there. (They called it a provincial ballot, but they had the concept down.)

No "I voted" stickers--they've never had them. Since I have all this free time I expected to spend in line, I'm making my own. (I thought about buying some address labels and printing out enough for everyone, but I'm not sure they'd be allowed to hand them out, and the labels are like six bucks.)

I'm a college student going to school away from my home state. I wanted to be involved in the local elections back home in Minnesota, since there are a few important fights this year. Unfortunately, they screwed up sending my absentee ballot and it was going to be too late, so my dad went and requested they send another via priority mail. It was supposed to arrive by this Saturday, when he was in town visiting me and could deliver it by hand. Both copies turned up yesterday. I know they wanted absentee ballots -in- today, not -mailed- by today, and didn't trust I'd get it in time, so last week I went ahead and registered to vote in Wisconsin.

I went straight to my polling place after my first class today. It was relatively empty -- here on campus, most people are in class during the day, so evening is when it will get really crowded. When I went to check in I was told my name wasn't on their list . . . luckily, it turned out to be on the supplementary list at the next table over. Since I registered a little late in the game, I was on their newest list but not the older ones, I guess.

I went to the booth and filled out my ballot. There was an option to vote a straight democratic ticket, and even though every person I voted for was a democrat, I didn't mark it off. I wanted to fill in each individual spot on my ballot and say, "I'm not just voting for the democratic party. I am voting for these -people,- who I believe are each individually the best we've got."

This was my first presidential election. It felt good -- really good. Like a coming-of-age moment. I'm glad this was my first. I'm wearing my "I voted" sticker with pride.

I recently moved from a red state (NE) to a blue state (IL), and it was thrilling to know that my vote was counting toward the electoral college for the first time. I only wished I could be back in NE to vote against the racist ballot measure there.

My voting story isn't that interesting, but it was my first time voting in a presidential election so I was so excited that I went first thing in the morning, and walked away with a huge smile on my face... I feel so proud to actually be able to exercise the right that so many worked so hard for us to have. Warm fuzzy feelings come also from all the students at my school talking about Obama, and my mom, grandma, and sister voting for him too =)

ALSO, I feel proud of myself for standing up to a "friend" whose away message declared she was "voting for America, not change" - how dare she imply that we are not voting for the betterment of our country? i pointed out to her just how offensive that is... not that it probably got through to her, but standing up for yourself is always a good feeling.

I'm another first time presidential election voter (I'm 20)! I've voted twice before, but never for a presidential candidate. Anyway, I had my mail-in ballot filled out about two weeks ago, but I lost track of time so I ended up going to the election clerk's office anyway.

When I got there, the woman asked me if I had a completed mail-in ballot or if I was there to vote. I told her I had my mail-in ballot completed and she said, "Do you want to put it in the slot or do you want me to do it?" And I did it because it was my first time voting for a president and it was so epic just to be able to put the ballot in myself.

Then I played a really mean trick on my 18 year-old sister in California and told her that I had voted for McCain. She freaked out for about five minutes before I finally told her I was kidding.

BTW, I also just spent a few minutes phone-banking for Obama. I hate talking on the phone and got my feelings hurt when someone hung up on me, so I didn't do many calls, but it's very easy to sign up to do it--just go to his website, pick which state you want to call, enter a little information, and you'll get a list of people to call. If you have a few minutes (and don't hate talking on the phone), go do some!

I voted for the first time while I was attending undergrad at SUNY Albany.

The year I graduated I was in a program to minor in women's studies and was told that I was 'too opinionated' for the program.

After going through a hard year, my mom and I went to vote together around 9 this morning. It was sunny and perfect. A nice older man made sure we both understood how to use the old machine and once both my mother and I finished, we walked out grinning to each other and went straight to Starbucks for coffee and fabulous mother/daughter talk.

I voted bright and early this morning in Alaska. The polls opened at 7 am, and my husband and I arrived at 7:30 expecting a line. There were three people in front of us and the four voting booths were occupied. This is my first election here in Alaska and I voted one of those scantron ballots. The machine was jammed, so the ballot taker was dropping everyone's ballot into a locked box on the machine to be counted when an official showed up. It made me a little nervous. Alaska gives out giant "I voted today" stickers with the Alaska state flag on them.

I'm from Alaska and Sarah Palin does NOT speak for me.