Tradition!

I went to my polling place this morning, a little sad. Nostalgic, really. We moved to our rural Connecticut town in 1999. Until this morning, I had always voted in the old Town Hall, a tiny building built in 18-oh-something, with white clapboard sides, a pine floor, and a little pot-bellied stove providing whatever heat the warm bodies inside don't produce themselves. And, of course, old-fashioned lever-operated voting machines, complete with that satisfying "Click" when you open the curtain and finalize your vote. When I voted in the last presidential election, I stood in line with my then-toddler in tow, watching acquaintances and neighbors filter through, and feeling the heat ripple off of the wood stove as I stood by it in line. Sen. Dodd was behind me with his family and entourage, creating a bit of stir as he moved through the building. The process was ripe with small-town ambiance, and, even then, I appreciated that it really served to emphasize that governmental change and progress starts at the smallest, most local level and filters its way to the top.

As I've mentioned before, our new middle school opened this year. Due to changes in the voting process, our polling place has been moved to the old middle school gym. My husband and I went there to vote this morning. We were handed our OCR forms and folders, went to our little plastic cubbies, cast our votes with black felt-tip markers, and then went to the next line, where we waited to insert our forms into the scanner. The space was large, and the whole process was fast and efficient, but there was no satisfying "Click." Still, although the pine floor and pot-bellied stove ambiance is a thing of the past, it's, all in all, still a small town. As I walked out, my son's old Cubmaster was there to hand me my "I Voted Today" sticker. And Chris Dodd was still behind us in line.

And that's my silver lining for today.