In North Carolina, where voters can register and cast their ballots on the same day during early voting, Obama volunteers have been bringing first-time voters to the polls all week. For some, the experience is as nervous-making as it is thrilling.
Hope, 18, her ex-boyfriend Amel, and his cousin Malcom live in a low-income, predominantly African-American neighborhood in Durham. They are exactly the kinds of voters the Obama campaign needs if it is to win in North Carolina--young, historically unengaged citizens who fly under the radar of polls but have been inspired by the campaign. If an Obama volunteer hadn't visited this neighborhood and visited week after week, knocking on doors and offering rides to the polls, it is unlikely these three would be voting at all.
Yet, on a Friday afternoon, with only a day left to vote early, Hope was waiting for us on her balcony. "Is that you, Miss?" she hollered.
The day before she'd said she didn't know how to vote; now she was not only ready, but had brought two friends in tow. "I just know I'm going to make a mistake," she said, but climbed into the backseat anyway.
It was a beautiful day, and the line at the polls snaked well out the door. A man with an Obama sticker intersected our group to show them the ballot. The ballot has been causing confusion in North Carolina--one must vote for president separately from straight-party, and Diane Tucker has reported tens of thousands of voters simply filling in the circle for "Democrat" or "Republican" but neglecting to mark the circle next to McCain or Obama.
The Obama volunteer pointed several times to the presidential selection and then to the straight-party selection. "If you want to vote Democrat, you have to do both," he said. "You understand? You understand?"
Hope's group looked stony; one of them wandered away.
Hope asked about the other side of the ballot, so the volunteer flipped it over and said, "These are non-partisan candidates. Do you know what 'partisan' means?"
Gently, the man who'd brought Hope's group guided them into line. Marcus wasn't talking, and Amel was nervous. "I ain't never voted before," he kept saying.
To pass the time, Hope pulled out her birth certificate and fingered the edges. She didn't know what kinds of ID she would have to bring--she had recently moved, and her driver's license had the previous address. She, Amel, and Malcom had all brought some mail, and together they had compiled an assorted set of cards with their names on them.
As we approached the front of the line, the entire group turned quiet. A poll worker in an apron held up a slip of paper that said, in four compound-complex sentences, that one must vote separately for the president.
"Do you need this?" she said, looking Amel in the eye. Amel looked back, with a wild, what-am-I-supposed-to-say-now? look.
The poll worker prompted him, "Are you voting straight ticket?"
"I ain't never voted before," Amel blurted.
Although I was past the line for electioneering, I jumped in and said that the poll worker was repeating what the Obama volunteer had said: one circle for president, and a separate circle if he wanted to vote straight Democrat.
"Awright," said Amel. "'Cause I'm definitely voting for Obama." Behind him, a few people in line chuckled, which cheered him up.
Hope's group disappeared inside, and while the volunteers waited, the head of the Durham Election Board strolled up and down the line in a head-to-toe Uncle Sam outfit. "Democracy is happening!" he sang. "Democracy is happening!"
In fifteen minutes, out came Amel and Malcom, both with their chests puffed out and their eyes bright. Hope, it turned out, had indeed made a mistake: she'd voted for Obama, then straight-ticket Democrat, then had meticulously filled in the bubbles for every other Democratic candidate. A poll worker assured here it would've been fine, but Hope asked for a fresh ballot because she wanted it to be perfect. When she emerged a full forty-five minutes later, she was sashaying.
"I was so nervous, but I did it," she said. She reminded me again of her birth certificate. "Today I voted for Obama," she said. "And tomorrow's my birthday!"