OK- I got back an hour and fifteen minutes after departing to vote. Wait time to actually cast the ballot was less than four minutes and that was because the wallet stuck in my vest pocket and the wheel from the volunteer checking IDs to the table with the pen and then over to the scanner. I can now swear that I voted the
GOP ticket in Fairfax, which used to be purple but now is solid blue. The $100 cab ride to get the participation sticker for my chest was worth it., even if my vote may only be for my satisfaction.

I still wanted to do it, and my strategy of visiting the Fairfax Government Center by cab early meant a pick-up at 0830, leaving the unit at 08:15 to have a smoke before boarding the Red Top Cab for the trip to exercise my franchise and then stop at the VABC liquor store on the way home to fulfill my General Election obligation and restore the the galley rum barrel.

There was no wait to vote in the gleaming County center. Frederick, the Ghanian cabbie, wheeled me up and I scooted right through after checking in and flirting with the attractive polling volunteer. A nice SE Asian lady moved a chair rt the privacy station so I could roll up to the privacy screened table with my unfilled ballot.
there was no wait except for a look at my driver’s license.

Seated in the wheelchair, I examined the ballot and inked in the little circles next to the candidates I find least objectionable and then wheeled over to a computer terminal that I fed the long white rectangle into the feeder on top. The wait to ensure the machine had accepted the vote without quibble then led to a merry wheel ride back through the lobby to find Frederic, who had parked just outside the security area.

Once boarded with chair in trunk, we drove back north to the closest VABC store to The Trillium. We were in front at 0905 to discover what I should have known was “Opening at 10:00.”

That is the problem with early voting. It is too easy to accomplish since it left a 40 minute wait in the lot for the sho to open. I decided to go home and drink coffee.

So, no drink to celebrate the act. I told Frederick to just take me home and from there I will look for a delivery service to enliven the afternoon. As they say, “Vote. Then Drink.”

Can I get you anything from the Galley? It is open early today even if the VABC is not.

Copyright 2025 Vic Socotra
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