My Day At The Polls

I was in Lagrange, NY. It is a small town in the Hudson Valley very close to Poughkeepsie. I arrived at my polling place, a firehouse, on a cold and rainy morning twenty minutes before they opened up. My older brother met me shortly thereafter to drop off a couple of 4x8's and a few other smaller sized signs on the back of his truck.

We spoke to a woman from the board of elections as she was putting up an allowed distance sign on a pole. We informed her that we knew of the 200 feet to the door rule and that we would not break it. She then told us that we could not be on the property with the large signs even beyond 200 feet.

A few minutes later one of the firemen came outside and reiterated that we could not have the signs on the property. I asked him if the firehouse was considered public or private property. He replied by saying good question. I then asked him that if the firehouse were to be considered public, paid for by us the taxpayer, shouldn't we be able to put up signs on it. He said that this was another good question, but that he believes some private group bought a stake in multiple fire departments in the area. Even though I knew the information in both these friendly conversations was suspect we complied by putting the big signs off the property next to the adjacent roadway. After we went inside and voted we settled in at a spot just beyond the 200 foot parameter with some small signs and my trusty American Flag.

Five minutes later two men approached us from inside the firehouse. The man that introduced himself as the Chief of the house told us that we would be putting him between a rock and a hard place with his bosses and the board of elections if we stood there and tried to talk to people as they walked by. The other man tried to dissuade us by casually saying that what we were doing was comparable to what Jehovah's Witnesses do. My brother stated that he didn't see the connection and that standing up for liberty is the responsibility of all Americans. The Chief tried to say that he knew better than anyone because he was a Veteran and that we should comply. My brother stated that he was also a Veteran. The Chief gave him a look like,"yeah, right buddy." For a moment awkwardness hung in the air. My brother responded that not only was he a veteran, but that he was Special Forces during the Gulf War. This had a warming effect on the whole conversation. We complied with his request to not talk to people and the Chief allowed us to be in a side parking lot on the property beyond the 200 feet sign with our big sign.

We stood in the rain and got wet. My socks were soaked because I didn't wear the right kind of shoes. We talked about Dr. Paul, liberty and girls. My brother went off and got some lunch for us. While I was standing there by myself with my flag over one shoulder and a RP sign hanging around my neck a Police Officer pulled up. He got out of his car, smiled at me and went inside. He came out a few minutes later, got in his car and drove up to where I was standing.
He got out of his car and said that they had had a complaint of my brother and I harassing people that were walking one hundred feet away from us. I told him that this was not so and that maybe someone complained because they did not like Ron Paul. He asked me for my information, my cell phone number and finally my license. While he was running it through his system I asked him if he knew who he was voting for. He said no. I told him how FOP endorses RP and how RP wrote the bill to provide a way for all police officers to obtain body armor. He gave me a verbal warning that if he had to come back that I could be cited for disorderly conduct. My brother then returned. He took down my brother's information. Before he left he said that he would look up Ron Paul before he voted.

The rain then stopped. We ate lunch in the truck. Afterwards we stood in front of the truck talking about the state of the union, the state of the dollar, and the state of the sheep. My brother left after a couple of hours.

I then proceeded to walk down by the road on the sidewalk to the corner where there was a stop light. For the next 5 hours I stood with my Hope For America sign around my neck, the flag on my shoulder and a peace symbol thrust in the air. Many people beeped their horns. Many people ignored me and one teenager yelled Ron Paul sucks @#$%. Many others though returned my smile and a peace sign of their own.

Standing there in my wet socks my mind raced with thoughts of the sheep, America and what is to become of Freedom.

I then grabbed my signs and went home.

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