Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Voting in Manhattan


Maurice (Mickey) Carroll

Maurice (Mickey) Carroll, Director, Quinnipiac University Polling Institute:

Forgive me for putting on my ain't-it-great-to-be-an-American act, but Election Day brings that out. There was a 15-minute line of neighbors at the school on West 84th Street and Columbus Avenue in Manhattan waiting to vote, a mother with kids in a stroller, a shaky old lady with a walker, people I ride with every day in the elevator at 241 Central Park West. Some paused at the school bake sale. Everyone was in a good mood. "In New York, it's Obama in a landslide." I told the woman in line behind me. "I know," she said, "but I still want to do my duty." 


Personally - I was disappointed that we didn't get ink stains on our forefingers to prove that we voted today.

I want physical evidence that I voted for Obama and Biden.

I have never before walked up to the polls fighting back tears.

I keep thinking about Frederick Douglass, and DuBois and King, and even Booker T. Washington.

And I think about Robert Kennedy - the only other candidate in my lifetime to whom I attached so much hope.

- George

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