Melissa Goodnight

I voted for a woman to be our president again this morning. It was only the second time in my life I’ve been fortunate enough to cast my vote for a woman to run our country. The first time was in November of 2016 and I cast my vote, alongside my second-grade son, for Hillary Clinton and when we walked out of that North Carolina polling place I was convinced that was the first of many votes I would cast for women in that role and I’m still convinced.

And while my kid was at school this morning, I did not vote alone. I voted alongside many Georgians at my local public library in DeKalb County. I voted with men and women, senior citizens who were ushered out of the late-October chill and at least four first-time voters who received a polite round of applause each time they were announced.

I voted on machines I trust, ushered by Poll Workers who were mostly women from my community, my neighbors, mostly spry older woman, mostly Black. There was an air of kindness and togetherness. Of deep knowing. They showed me proof my ballot was officially counted. But they didn’t need to do that. I trust the process. I trust them.

I voted in my Barbie sweatshirt.

I voted for a female presidential candidate for the second time ever this morning the night after, as luck would have it, Jerimiah and I sat in the third row of the beautiful Fox Theater in Midtown and listened to my first time, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

It was an exceptional night of love and light moderated by our beloved senator, Rev. Raphael Warnock and we are indebted to our Kentucky friends who bought tickets but were unable to make it. Thanks for thinking of us, Brandy! We are grateful.

Hillary spoke about her new book, it was a book tour after all, but because we are in Georgia and we are living day-to-day in this pseudo-swing state hell she talked about so much more.

She told stories of her mother and her own childhood growing up in Chicago, but she also told stories of ushering women out of Afghanistan and floating down the Chattahoochee with women who were fleeing their families and the white supremacy they found themselves wrapped up in.

She also talked about what she said to Melania Trump at Rosalind Carter’s funeral, why women like Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris are the real fucking deal, and why she believes more than our rights will be stripped in November if we do not vote like our life depends on it.

Because ladies, our life depends on it. And so do the lives of all the young girls in our country.

Then Jerimiah and I finished the evening on the banks of the Chattahoochee drinking wine and eating the best Pecan-crusted Trout I’ve ever had at Ray’s on the River.

It was a memorable evening and I still have so much to process. But today I knew what I needed to do first thing and I did it.

Please go vote if you haven’t already. We have too many little eyes watching. Please go vote if you haven’t already, lest women become your collateral damage.