I Rocked the Vote - Did You?

On my way home from work I did what millions of other citizens across this country did today. I stopped at my polling place and cast my vote. Now as I watch the election results during the breaks in "Dancing With the Stars," I'm thinking about what the freedom to vote means to me:

1. In the voting booth, my voice carries exactly the same weight as every other citizen's. It doesn't matter who I am or my station in life, my vote speaks just as loudly as the CEO's or the janitor's vote, the college student's or the senior citizen's vote.

2. For many citizens, including me as a woman, the freedom to vote comes as the result of many hard-won victories. I have many people who came before me to thank for this freedom.

3. If I don't like the way things are being run, I can express my opinion with my vote. I might not always get the result I want, but at least I know I put in my two cents' worth.

4. Last, but not least, my vote earned me the right to praise or condemn the people in office. Or at least I can do so and nobody can say, "Yeah, but you didn't vote!"

The only thing is, I didn't get a sticker from the nice ladies at the polling place, but hey - I still feel good that I exercised my freedom and added my vote to the tally.

So...I voted! Did you?

This just in: Here in Washington, the campaign to get people to vote was so successful, they ran out of ballots in many precincts! They had to give voters a ballot in Chinese and a sample ballot in English so people could tell who they were voting for. We might have had record rains and floods here this past week, but it didn't keep people from voting!