Delegation, Part 7

(Start with Part 1, most recent is Part 6)

A sign-in sheet progressed down our row, then back up the next, finally returning to its origin with the precinct secretary. Since I'd been conveniently discarded during the three weeks between the two caucuses, I was forced to take some extra time to fill in more details. I checked the "under_36" box, filled in that I was MALE and WHITE, wrote in and circled my prefered candidate as OBAMA, signed the form, and sent it on down the line.

Concerning the matter at hand, the reason we were all wasting our Saturday, the voting for delegates was an application of a simple math problem. Our goal was to ensure that both the delegate and alternate chosen would be Obama supporters. Our 12 votes against the 5 for the other candidate worked out such that if exactly 6 of us voted for each one we'd get both of our nominees in.

Earlier in the day P had distributed small slips of paper with the name of the nominee we were to vote on. This orderly action stood out in dark contrast to the chaos that had permeated throughout the event.

The precinct chair queued behind the many other precincts submitting their roll-calls, and we waited.

Not a second before all precincts had reported their attendees we finally started the task of the day.

"Ok," the precinct chair stated, "are there any nominations?"

As expected there were three, all of which had been determined hours prior. Nominations closed.

"All in favor of Fran?" The five outsiders raised their hands.

"All in favor of Grandma Dee?" Six of us, including myself, raised our hands.

"All in favor of Harry?" The remaining six raised their hands.

The chosen two delegates, having tied for votes, stepped away for a moment to decide amongst themselves who would be delegate and alternate. This was completely for show, as this minor detail too had already been decided hours in advance.

"He's a gentleman," Grandma Dee said cheerfully as she rejoined the rest of the group. "He's going to let me be the delegate."

Tired, sore, and hungry, I walked over to P to confirm that my part in this drama had concluded.

"Am I done here?"

"Yep, you're free to go."

I lingered a few moments longer, and ended up catching a ride with a fellow 'bama who was just as tired of this mess.

"Think you can drop me off at the train station?"

"Sure."

He of course neglected to tell me that he'd parked a quarter mile off campus and we were going to be walking for a while. My legs swore to never carry me anywhere ever again.

"Thanks again for the ride," I spoke as I forced my legs to step out of the small sedan. Just a little bit farther now. He nodded and pulled away and I hurried onto the escalator leading down to the platform.

*ding ding* *ding ding*

Oh shit, here comes the train! I hustled down the remaining half of the disappearing steps, caught the train doors just as they were opening and stepped inside.

Quiet. Empty. Bliss.

I slumped into a seat near the door, ignoring the curses of my knees.

Soon, very soon now.

In just another hour I'd be with my wife and child, enjoying the delicious warmth of crispy, yummy tacos at my favorite restaurant, and the events of this day would fade into distant memory.

The doors closed, the horn sounded, and light faded as the train entered the tunnel.


(Bonus! Check out pictures of the event on this web album)