I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the events of the past few days. It’s been both joyous and disheartening; a giant leap forward and huge step back. And based on some of the hate-email I’ve received from Utah and oddly enough Calgary recently, they seem perfectly cool with stripping away rights due to our disgusting habits. More on them later.

Taking all of this into account, I have reached the following conclusions.

While chickens gained new rights in California, gays and lesbians lost them.

Religious groups learned if you exert enough money and influence, they can strip your equal rights.

No how matter how hard you push your own brand of McCarthysim, your electorate can still be stupid enough to put you back into office.

Religion often provides shelter for hate, intolerance and fear of “other”, opening up a whole host of possibilities.

A better educational system would reduce the number of bigots and improve spelling.

And finally…

Exit polling for MSNBC revealed that 24% of Americans are afraid of this black man…

It happened to me today. While I am registered to vote by mail, I chose to go in person to my polling place to cast my vote. I wanted to gauge the turnout, see if there were any problems and try out the new-fangled voting machines. I had done this without issue in 2004 and 2006.

When I went into the polling place they asked my why I had not voted by mail and I gave them those reasons. They then asked if I had the mail-in ballot with me and I said no. Then they offered me a provisional ballot, as if it carried the same weight as a traditional ballot. THEY DO NOT.

Depending on where you live, provisional ballots may be counted last, and then only if it’s a close race, or not at all.

I told the poll worker that was unacceptable. She said I would need to bring in my mail-in ballot to be torn up before I was allowed to vote using the new electronic voting machines. I promptly did just that. Thirty minutes later I was casting my vote, wondering if the machine would flip my votes or reject me entirely. Fortunately, it did not.

If you are offered a provisional ballot, reject it if at all possible. If you have to go home to get additional paperwork, do that, come back and cast a real ballot. If the poll worker is offering a provisional ballot as a viable alternative, ask them what you need to do in order to cast a real ballot. If they are unhelpful and you know you are in the right, ask to speak to that person’s supervisor or call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report the issue.

Remember, only cast a provisional ballot as a last resort. It is better than not voting at all, but is a poor substitute to a real ballot and your vote may not be counted.

Two years is a lifetime to wait for change. But finally the day is upon us. From eighteen. To two. To ONE.

Many of us have been waiting longer than 2 years. Much longer. Sometimes patiently, and sometimes with tremendous urgency, we waited for a sign, some moment in time that would begin to ease the weight of the past years transgressions, and begin to move us to a better place. I remember that moment for me back in 2004 where there was a whiff of hope, a suggestion that things could truly be different, and better.

“.. alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we are all connected as one people.

If there’s a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child.

If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent.

If there’s an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief — it is that fundamental belief — I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sisters’ keeper — that makes this country work.

It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family: “E pluribus unum,” out of many, one.

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes.

Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America; there’s the United States of America.

There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America.

The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states.

We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the red states.

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope?”

So here we are on this final day. And the world is holding its breath, watching us, waiting to see what will happen next.

Do they wonder if we will elect our first African-American president?

No.

Do they wonder if our next president will finally bring the war in Iraq to a close?

No.

Do they wonder if our next president will lead the way on the issues that matter most in this new century, like terrorism, poverty and climate change?

No.

They wonder if we will choose hope.

Vote.