I walked ten blocks up Bouldin Avenue to be at Becker Elementary School when the polls opened at 7AM. This is the first wintry-feeling day of the season, temperatures in the 50s, drizzly, and gray. When I arrived I was 7th in line waiting outside for the polls to open. Ahead of me were 3 men and 3 women, all white. Everyone was quiet and attentive. By the time the polls opened, the line stretched into the street.

The election workers checked the photo ID on my driver’s license and and voter’s registration card, looked up my name in the precint’s voters list, and gave me a ballot. Although this is the first year they have tried electronic balloting, they did that only for early voting at the Travis County courthouse. These paper ballots have been around about 20 years. They are like standardized tests which you mark with a lead pencil.