At the Polls on Primary Election Day

About an hour ago, Fox News 5 declared 35-year-old Adrian Fenty to be "the next mayor of D.C."

I arrived at the polling place at around 7:20 a.m. this morning and had a little trouble receiving a ballot. I stepped up in the appropriate location in line and gave my name. "Kris Hammond" I said... "K-r-i-s." I then gave my address as requested. The poll worker couldn't find my name, so I pointed to it on the ledger, which to me appeared upside down.

"Can I see some I.D.?" she said. I balked. A poll worker came over, and I immediately recognized him from the Emery Elementary School cleanup project. "How are you doing?" I said, and he smiled, shaking my hand. "He said his name was spelled C-h-r-i-s." the poll worker told him. I shook my head, but rather than draw things out, I produced my driver's license. The poll worker confirmed my I.D. and immediately became more friendly. They are doing their job, I thought.

Outside the polling place, volunteers for Fenty, Cropp, Johns, and Orange voiced support for their candidates. I managed to chat with volunteers from all of these campaigns, except Johns. (For the record, I asked some Fenty volunteers if one could appear in the photo to the right to provide some balance.)

In the midst of all of this, Officer Freeman came up to me and introduced himself. Apparently my advocacy is making waves. Police officers are walking the streets, he volunteered, but this technique came into use only recently. I told him that my conversation with neighborhood residents confirmed this; that they never saw police officers walking the streets until recently. Kudos to the MPD for embarking on the foot patrols; that seems to be what residents want.

Harry Thomas, Jr. cruised to victory for the city council seat for Ward Five.

Congratulations to Mr. Fenty and Mr. Thomas.

(Adrian Fenty photo credit: Todd Franson.)