I was to vote absentee in Missouri and I never got the ballot. So I had to fly into St. Louis to sign an affidavit swearing I wouldn’t vote twice and then I’d get to vote right there. I was irritated to say the least, but I’d rather lose another day of work than lose my right to vote.

The polling place opened at 7am, I got there at 6:15. There were 50 or 60 people in front of me, people brought chairs. Within ten minutes, there were twenty people lined up behind me. Fifteen minutes after that, I couldn’t keep count. At 7am, the doors opened and we started filing in. A head count was made and I heard the tally: there were over 200 of us waiting to vote, and that didn’t include those who joined the line after the doors opened. I have never seen anything like it. This is November 3rd and this many people turn out at the crack of dawn?!

I can’t even imagine what today will be like, but I urge everyone to get to your polling place at least two hours early. Don’t mess this up. Get your vote in and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. No matter who you are voting for, this is an undeniably extraordinary election.

As I cast my vote onto the electronic voting booth, it printed the ballot onto ink and paper. For a moment, I realized that this was right, here I can see my vote; no one can claim it was “lost in the mail.” And when I saw my vote print out, my voice, I felt a surge of emotion that I still can’t quite explain. It was overwhelming and real.

U.S. PRESIDENT: BARACK OBAMA

My first presidential election was only eight years ago: an election that told me, in so many perversions, that my vote was a joke. I’m not counting chickens. I’m also not jumping on the old lefty bandwagon of leaving the country if it doesn’t go my way. No matter how f’ed we are, we aren’t stoning 13-year-old rape victims to death in front of a salivating audience. So, if this election ends in McCain/Palin…well then…get angry. Get furious — enough with the collective apathy.

But, please, let’s not let it come to that. Just get off your ass and vote.