It's a Beautiful Day to VOTE!

My first Election Day as a U.S. citizen and registered voter began with a bleary-eyed peek through our bedroom curtains at a brightening clear day. Like any other day, we climbed into our exercise clothes and headed out for an early morning workout. Unlike other days, though, we made a couple of extra turns to scope out our neighborhood polling place en route to the Y. The lights in the community center poured out onto the dim street, but otherwise, all was quiet 45 minutes before the polls were to open.

We took another detour past the building on our way home. This time, the venue was a little "livelier" with a couple of volunteer greeters flanking the doorway and a lone picketer pumping his triceps with a "Vote No on 8" sign outside the property perimeter.

Two hours later -- after a regular breakfast, a couple of conference calls, folding laundry, and "freshening up" -- we finally returned to the polling place for its primary purpose. There were noticeably more people, but not the lines or fanfare seen at other locations around the country. But I didn't mind. While enjoying my own mental voting party and the company of my voter buddy, I appreciated being outnumbered by friendly volunteers who efficiently directed me to the check-in desk and then to the eSlate polling booth.

Those 6 minutes in that black-curtained booth were among the most empowering of my life.

An estimated 13.6 million California voters are expected to cast ballots today.
As of 4:30PM, Pacific time, 4,031,535 people on Facebook had voted.

This is certainly an incredible day...to change the world.