I voted!

The good news is that I voted in the 2012 election.  Hooray!  Here's how it all went down:

I had already applied for an absentee ballot through Boulder County (my permanent address is now in Longmont at my parents' house!  :) and they mailed it to me a few weeks ago (thanks Boulder!).  I could have filled it out and mailed it back, but I've been too lazy.  Lucky for me, the US Embassy here in Kuwait hosted a voting day today where they guaranteed that anyone who voted or returned a ballot would have their vote returned on time (and mailed for free!).  Who could resist?  I caught a cab after school with a few of the lovely ladies I work with.  Our cabbie took us as far as he could go (the road in front of the embassy was barricaded--I don't know if this is a new feature) before we piled out and walked the remaining 50 feet to front gate.  The front gate security guards checked our bags and had us turn our cellphones off.  They also used a small strip of--paper?  I'm not sure--to swipe our bags and ran it through a machine.  I'm guessing they were testing for explosive material or gun powder or something of that nature.  I came back clean (yay!) and walked another 100 feet to the actual gates of the embassy where they had polling places set up.  The embassy had arranged for anyone who hadn't ordered an absentee ballot ahead of time to fill out a write-in ballot on the spot so they could vote.  Nice!  Because I had already filled out my ballot, I was able to seal it and drop it off for them to send off to the US.  The other ladies I came with took about 15 minutes filling out the paperwork necessary before writing in their choices for the president.  I guess they had the option to fill in a write-in portion for senators and other state-level issues but they hadn't done any research ahead of time so they didn't know who to vote for.  Either way, it was a painless process and it makes me so proud to have cast my ballot absentee for yet another presidential election!  

The bad news?  No sticker saying "I voted!"  Guess I'll have to settle for an online sticker and a pat on my own back:

I wanted to post pictures of the embassy but there were no cameras allowed due to the voting today.  I tried googling the US Embassy in Kuwait but couldn't find any images besides the one below.  I thought was neat and decided to throw it on here anyway!  It was taken just after September 11 here at the embassy:

I think it's a nice reminder that we're all in this together, and by "this" I mean life!  ;)  Don't forget to vote in a few weeks--make your voice heard!