By Donald Moore, Youth Communication

My mother decided to vote early today, at the wee hour of 7 in the morning. So me and my parents got in the car and drove the three blocks to the booths. Thinking we had beat the masses, we were surprised to find a line. A long line. How long? From the small Baptist church that served as our polling place, we could see a line of people stretching from the middle of the block down to almost the corner. We thought about getting out and joining the line, but the impatient one among us (that'd be me and my dad) decided to wait out the morning crowd.

Turns out that the line was just as long when we returned later in the day. This obviously was not going to be like typical elections. EVERYONE was voting it seemed. More than in 2006, more than in the Democratic primary this February. New York City obviously hadn't preferred for numbers like these. When we finally got inside, there was another line, equally long, snaking through the church. It was a maze of people, and everyone was confused. It was like a game of Pacman. But no one got off the line and went home. No one tried to cut ahead, no one started an argument, no one complained. It was total confusion and everyone kept their cool.

The line eventually sorted itself out, and we got closer to the booth. Finally, it was my turn. The voting machines in the state of New York are the most antiquated in the country; some of these machines have been in use since the 60's. I was used to it though; it was my 4th time voting since I turned 18. I made my selections, but before I pulled the big red lever to make it final, I took a good long look at my ballot. A little bit of nostalgia, and maybe something I can tell my grandkids about one day.

I felt good after I left. I live in a reliably blue state, in a reliably blue city, in a reliably blue district, so some might argue that my vote didn't matter much. But to me, it was a way of showing the powers that be that I cared enough to wait nearly two hours on line to cast my vote. And that made it all worthwhile.

Keep up with the latest from Youth Radio. Follow @youthradio on Twitter. Live your digital life on Facebook? Become a fan of YMI-Youth Media International and get updates delivered right to your page.