Guus Bosman

Today I voted for the first time in a U.S. election and it felt great.

I've always enjoyed following politics. For years Sasha and I have followed the Presidential campaigns and watched many debates, and since a few years I also started following the local Arlington politics more closely. I became U.S. citizen in January and today I could finally cast my vote.

The boys woke up around 6.00 am. That's too late to really go back to bed, though also too late to really feel rested. In any case, I was at the polling station at 7.00 am I was voter number 8. The election was a Democratic primary for the Arlington County Board. There were six candidates running for two open positions. The general election will be in November. The candidates were all quite similar to each other; I ended up voting for Fallon and Cristol.

Someone asked: "was it everything you hoped for?" and yes, I am very happy that I can vote now and I was really a bit emotional when I left the polling station.

The last time I voted in an election, then in the Netherlands, was over ten years ago.