Election Day Snafu

Eme and I eagerly awoke a little earlier than usual to make the short trek to Grace Free Church in Fridley to cast our votes. We arrived just after 7 am and there was a line out the door. After waiting about 10 minutes we saw our neighbor two houses down from us that we just met at a little "ice-breaker" get together set up by our neighbors right next door...still with me? (Side note: it's nice to live in a neighborhood in which people get together to get to know each other!)

Ok, so we said "hi" to Tom (he was in the I-O line and we were in the A-H line) and we continued to sign our names in the registry. Then we funneled back into one line and he was right behind us. So I turned around and started a little small talk with him..."Hi Tom. So who are you going to vote..."

This is one of those moments when you are mid sentence and you realize "what am I doing???? Just stop talking!" You should have seen the look on his face when I started my sentence with "who are you going to vote..." His face puckered up and started to turn red. He seemed so uncomfortable it was almost as though he had just eaten a lemon.

But to his relief I finally finished my imposing question with "...for mayor of Fridley? We've only been here a month. Is the current mayor ok?"

The tension melted away and, with almost an excited response, he said, "Oh the current guy...Lund? He's ok."

I then tried to ease his mind further by reassuring him I wasn't going to ask any other political questions. Just the one about the local election. I made sure he understood I was not going to squeeze his political ideas from his head right in the election line. I'm not sure you quite grasp how much I attempted to undo my slightly (ok, highly) inappropriate political question IN THE ELECTION LINE!

Neighbor Tom, thankfully, understood that I was only asking about the local election of mayor to which neither Eme nor I could possibly have assessed in just one short month of residence in Fridley!

After that somewhat awkward exchange we continued to discuss safe, non-political, non-partisan topics such as metered lights, commute times, polling place locations (as in Tom saying he has cast his ballot at this location for as long has he can remember), and other neutral topics.

Before we knew it we were in the voting "booth" to cast our votes, received our red "I Voted" stickers and headed to work.

FYI - In case you haven't heard...

1. Starbuck's is offering a free cup of coffee if you go in a say that you voted (no proof required).


2. Ben & Jerry's is offering a free scoop of ice cream today after 6 pm I think.


3. Krispy Kreme is offering a free donut for voters as well.

We have not participated in any of these free offers...yet. We don't drink coffee and do they even have Ben & Jerry's in MN?

GO VOTE!!!