Hey Americans who read this blog:  I hope you are all voting.  Just because the polls say one thing or another, does not mean you don’t have to vote.  Get out there and do it.  I don’t care if you think it’s “too much trouble” because your voting location is not near your work.  Just do it.  This election is so important and it will hurt my feelings if I find out that you don’t care.  Quit your hemming and hawing and vote.  Vote vote vote!  It’s your duty, your responsibility - and it’s a privilege.  Don’t abuse it.  Vote.

I have never been public on my blog about my political opinions because 1) I hate discussing politics and 2) I don’t want this blog to take that sort of direction.  This blog is about travel, my life, Italy, Buenos Aires, tango, food…I don’t want to include politics too much because I don’t want to attract that kind of traffic to my site.

In my family I never, ever participate in political discussions because we are a passionate, emotional bunch and when there are differing opinions at the dinner table (there always are), it turns into one big quilombo - and I hate conflict.

I always try to look at both sides in every situation.  I don’t want to claim to be a part of one political party or another.  But man, the more time goes on, the more disappointed and frustrated I am by what is happening in my country, particularly in the last few years.  I find that feel misrepresented and let down.  In fact, I can honestly say that I have never felt fully represented by any President.

But something amazing has happened this election.  With Barack Obama in the race, for the first time, I feel represented, understood.  Inspired.  So, I’ll come out and say it, probably to the chagrin of some key people in my life back home (sorry! Still love you guys!).  I voted for Obama at the embassy the other week.  I’m ready for change.

Ah, that felt good to say.  I guess you have to know me and you have to have seen me in family situations where there are political arguments to know why just saying that was such a big deal to me.  I’m usually quiet as a mouse, heart racing, wanting to say something but deathly afraid to get caught in the crossfire.  Which is absolutely silly of me, but like I said - we’re a passionate bunch.  It can get loud.

And I was pretty impressed when I found out that Colin Powel, a Republican, is also endorsing him.  I figure if he can come out and say it, then so can I.  I’m 31, why should I hide how I feel about the way things are?

**All this said, I’m not eleborating too much for the reasons described in the first paragraph.  Also, comments of all kinds are welcome, just please don’t expect me to blog too much more about politics, and I reserve the right to delete (or choose not to publish) any offensive comments from either end of the spectrum.**

“What’s Cooking Wednesday” will take a back seat this week because I thought it more important to read up as much as I could so I could go vote today at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires.  The election is actually not until November 4th, but those of us voting from overseas have to send our ballots in as soon as we possibly can, to make our votes count.  Today there was a voting event complete with music and refreshments, and I didn’t want to miss out.

I received my permanent absentee voter registration card in the mail a few weeks ago, but haven’t received my absentee ballot yet.  So, I was able to complete a Federal Write-In Ballot instead.  I went over everything for the Presidential candidates as well as my state last night and filled it out while sipping a glass of wine.  It took some time but I wanted to be as careful as possible when voting.

This morning around 9 or a little earlier, I got off the bus at Plaza Italia and walked the rest of the way to the embassy.  There were two entrances - one for people who hadn’t RSVP’d and also had electronics (cell phones, etc.) to check in, and one for people who had RSVP’d with their passport numbers and left their electronics all at home.  I chose to leave my cell phone at home and RSVP in advance, to get in more quickly.

To my surprise there wasn’t very much emphasis on security.  We had to put our belongings on a conveyor belt to be X-Rayed, and walk through a metal detector.  I set the detector off, and the man asked me, “Do you have any metal on you?”  I nodded and pointed to an embellishment on my shirt that I’m sure set it off, and he just said, “ok,” while waving me through.  He didn’t even check my passport or anything.

Upon entering the compound, I passed by tables of refreshments before going inside to get a security envelope for my write-in ballot.  I double-checked everything, signed where I needed to sign, and sealed the envelope.  I went back into the courtyard where the festivities were to be held, and made my way to a “ballot box” (for our absentee ballots which will be mailed by the embassy), and placed my ballot inside.  It was just like voting in person.  A woman standing there gave me a sticker in return that said, “I voted absentee”.  I tend to get a little weepy when I vote, and today I was *this* close - but, there was a Starbucks coffee stand to my right and I had a caffeine addiction distracting me.

As I strolled over to get my coffee and some cookies (ahem, supplied to Starbucks by Sugar and Spice), I also saw that there was another table with homemade carrot cake and cinnamon rolls.  Knowing that it was one day only, I allowed myself to enjoy the American breakfast sweets. There were also breakfast burritos!  Something else you would never see in Buenos Aires.

There were some newscameras around, voters being interviewed…and I was proud to see my fellow American expats giving their interviews in Spanish; it sure contradicted the stereotype of us being ignorant and not learning languages.  One man with a news camera followed me around for a while, presumably filming - noone was immune - I did my best not to look at the camera, and I kept my sunglasses on, feeling a little self conscious.

All in all it was a great way to spend the first half of my day.  The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze, and I saw some people I knew including bloggers Jackson and Erika, as well as the “Tango Goddess”, and I was happy to have a chance to chat with them.  A live jazz band entertained us, and the ambassador spoke to us about democracy, before also submitting his ballot, accompanied by a drumroll.  I hope other American embassies around the world are doing this for voters - it really is a nice way to reward the people who make the effort to vote, even though they are far away from home.  It’s so easy to forget when your day to day reality is in another country.

Even though I don’t live in the United States I feel it is my responsibility to keep on top of things politically, vote, pay my taxes at home, etc.  Everything our nation does has an impact on the rest of the world, so it was really important for me to vote, especially this time around - I feel like I owe it to the world.

You can still drop off your absentee ballot at the embassy on weekday mornings.

Or just don’t vote: