Vote!

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that today is election day. In a show of solidarity, the folks at Dancing Rabbit and Red Earth Farms went to Rutledge and voted en masse this morning. Voting lines in Rutledge, Missouri! The lines didn't last long, and then everyone wandered over to Zimmerman's for a celebratory donut.

The sticker: the REAL reason I vote!

Rutledge has a population of 103. We vote in the Community Center, and this year is the first time we have had "real" ballots. In previous elections we were given HUGE (newspaper size) pieces of paper on which to make our "X" with a pencil. The ballot was then folded into quarters and inserted into a black box secured with a padlock. This year there is a snazzy motorized contraption that sucks one's ballot into the box. We've hit the big time. (Although we still prefer to sit at the long dining tables to vote, rather than standing in the two booths provided for privacy).

Tamar and Aurelia discuss the minor differences between Obama and McCain...

Alyson assists Cole in pronouncing "President Obama."


Jeff and Alyssa check in.

So now the waiting begins. Oh, how I hope this is the beginning of reinstatement of diplomacy, common sense, and all the good things the United States used to stand for.