5 November, 2008 -
President elect Obama is the first black president of America
Unlike in Bhutan Election Day in the United States, the first Tuesday of November, is not a national holiday. This means voters have to cast their ballot before rushing off to work or after the work day ends.
So polling stations get crowded early morning, thin out during the day and get crowded again in the evening. “I went to my polling station at around six in the morning and there were more than 300 people lined up to vote,” said Serap Rada, a faculty member of Maryland University. “I didn’t want to wait so I decided to come back later during the day.”
Although close to 29 million people had already cast their ballot in early polling on Election Day the lines were much longer with voters showing up in record numbers to give their verdict. And that they did much sooner than expected to elect Democrat Barack Obama, America’s 44th and first black president elect, as the man fit to lead the United States. Apart from a strong African American and women vote an overwhelming 66 percent of the youth voted for Obama.
By 11 pm (eastern standard time) it was all over. By then the Democrats had taken the swing states of Ohio, Florida and Virginia, with a total of 60 electoral votes and swung past the 271 electoral votes needed to win. Within minutes crowds began to gather outside the White House in Washington DC to celebrate the victory even as police cars moved in.
Along many towns and cities in the east coast, voters braved rain and an overcast sky as they went out to polling stations, which opened from 6 - 8 am and closed by 6 - 9 pm. The polling stations were managed independently by the states and manned mostly by volunteers. There were no policemen guarding the polling booth.
On Election Day in addition to the president, Americans also voted in 35 Senate elections, House of Representatives in all states, governors in 11 states and on local issues.
For example the official election ballot of the presidential general election of Montgomery country, state of Maryland, had names of Green, Libertarian, Constitution and Independent Parties contesting for the president and vice president, names that were rarely seen in the mainstream media. At the end of the name list was also a ‘Write In’ option for voters to write/type in names of people they want as president and vice president.
Two other pages of the ballot had names of representatives to be elected to Congress from their district, district judges, representatives to the board of education, amendments to the state constitution on early voting, electronic voting and on allowing slots machines to fund education in the state of Maryland.
At the University Park Elementary School, one of the polling stations in the College park area of Maryland state, two young Latinos wearing red sweat shirts and jeans and who spoke very little English handed out pamphlets to voters to vote for Question 2, (a referendum to allow slot machines). The pamphlet said it would pump in US $ 660 million into local schools and keep the money Marylanders spend on slots in neighbouring states in Maryland.
The polling room, set in the school’s multipurpose room, had seven election judges seated on one side to help voters check their registration and cast their vote. Voters are given an electronic card, which has to be slotted into a touch screen voting machine, placed at one end of the hall, to make their choices. Election judges and volunteers stood by to help the elderly and the physically challenged cast their vote.
Around mid day, voters at the University Park Elementary School had slowed to a slow but steady stream of people. Many were mothers who brought along toddlers to the polling station. As one mother made her choice on the touch screen her children crawled and played on the small stage of the multi purpose hall. When she exited the hall she stuck stickers on her children, which read, “I voted, Yo vote.”
Outside, 20 metres from the school entrance door, a volunteer waited patiently to distribute Obama pamphlets. At the university of Maryland campus students went about attending classes and voting. A student volunteer drove around the campus in golf-cart shouting, “Does anyone need a ride to vote?”
Students began gathering in common rooms on campus and in bars as the first results started pouring in after six pm on TV networks giving minute-by-minute updates. At the foreign press centre in Washington DC foreign journalists made live broadcasts using web cameras attached to their laptops as states went red (republicans) or blue (democrats) on a huge flat screen TV.
By late Tuesday night the democrats also expanded their majorities in both houses of Congress picking up five Republican-held Senate seats and capturing open seats in three states. They need a 60-vote majority in the senate to overcome blocking of legislation by the minority. The Senate currently consists of 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans and two independents that have lined with the Democrats. In the 435-seat House, Democrats currently hold the majority with 235.
According to exit polls, 62 percent of voters nationwide named the economy as their top concern, an issue that favored Obama. In the 20-month campaign to the White House, the longest in American history, the two candidates spent close to US $ 1 billion.
“It’s time to rejoice, America has got its first black president and he going to change the world,” said a young African American to passersby as he rushed off into the night to celebrate.
