Civil.

There are three doors into our Courthouse– and thus three parking areas. All were full so we parked across the street. 

There must have been almost two dozen cars at about 10:30!

A well dressed older black gentleman greeted us as we walked up the steps. He asked if we were there to vote and we answered, “Yes,” and we exchanged, “Have a nice day.”

Given the number of cars, we expected a line inside but there was none. There were also no UN monitors or Black Panthers. Our neighbor– who finds names on the voter registration list– welcomed us by saying, “There are my neighbors!” A old man asked me to wait for my neighbor to find my name before I signed in so that I’d sign in exactly as I was registered. And then the other lady gave me my little computer access card.

I was voter #109, Mr. Big Food, 110. There are three machines at our polling place. One was occupied by voter #108. As we voted– and checked our votes for accuracy– our neighbor and Mr. Big Food continued to chat. She told him business had been steady. There are just over 400 citizens registered to vote in our precinct, so one-quarter of them had voted in the first three and one-half hours. 

We hung around for a minute or two and chatted with our neighbor about our gardens as voter #111 signed in.

And then we went home.