My First Vote

The morning was fairly calm which was surprising after Obama said in his evening address for people to call their representatives in Congress to voice their opinion on the debt crises.  That's not to say that there were no calls into the office but it was nothing compared to last Friday.  We did hear reports that some of the websites had crashed over night from the flood of people looking up the phone numbers to the offices and that our voice mail was full this morning.  I also gave another tour today and we decided to go to the gallery to watch the House floor before walking through the Capitol since there was a vote coming up soon.  We got into the chambers just as the vote was starting so I was able to see what the House is like when they all came in to vote.  The Congressmen come on to the House floor with electronic cards that the slip into boxes on the back of the seats and select one of three buttons: yea, nay, or present.  Their vote then appears next to their name which is projected on the opposite wall from where I was sitting.  It was for an appointment in the FBI so there weren't too many no votes but what was really strange was how all of the Congressmen were staying on the floor and not leaving, which is how I was told it normally happens.  I later found out that they were doing their Congressional photo on the house floor after the vote...I think that they probably could have used their time better.  It was exciting to see my first vote and it was definitely the coolest fifteen minutes I've spent in the gallery.