Regardless of who your candidate was last night, if you were at the Democratic caucuses it was an exciting time.  From the beginning it was obvious that more people than expected had turned out to be part of this historical vote. As the light faded from the day and the cold settled in, a line of people wound its way around the city hall building in Murphy.  Some people had gotten there early to rally support for their candidate and some came rushing up at a little after 7 hoping they made it in time.  There were no worries there, two hours after we were told we would be starting we were just beginning to line up at tables to make our votes count.

Many of us came because we wanted to make sure our candidate got the votes they needed to make it to the next step of the election process, even though we weren’t sure exactly how we were supposed to do that.  The people working the polls were trying to explain to the crowd what was to take place, the few that could hear the instructions passed along the information to others in the crowd so that eventually we all knew what was expected of us.  I did not feel so bad after encountering numerous people who also had never heard of the “Texas two-step”. 

People spent an hour waiting outside in the cold and moving from one location to another as the combined staff of poll workers, firefighters, and police officers tried to find places where we would all fit. After a few false starts we were moved to the fire station, inside away from the cold.  For the most part, people kept the complaining to a minimum, kept the mood positive and took this opportunity to catch up with neighbors, make new friends and in a few cases campaign for their candidates.  As we would find out later that evening, we were much luckier than other voters throughout the state who were left in the cold the entire time and had to wait upwards of three hours to complete their process.   

As the organizers scrambled to find us space to meet and get us organized the crowd seemed to understand their plight.  They were simply overwhelmed and understaffed for last night’s event. By the end of the evening random voters were helping to man tables, collect pens and get people in the right lines to vote.  

Although we waited for two and a half hours to sign our names to a piece of paper and then go home they still had a meeting to run and votes to count.  While we all could say we would be home around 11, I am sure these workers were still working much later than that.  And in case they didn’t hear it enough, or even at all, last night, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your efforts.   And to all the voters who turned out, Republican and Democrats, to make your voice heard I also thank you.  Regardless of who wins the election in November, last night was history in the making.