vote

I cried as I voted for the first time in a Presidential election. I had been waiting for that day for so long.

October 21, 2008, was my 21st birthday. At 11:37 that morning – the time listed on my birth certificate – I filled in the oval next to Barack Obama’s and Joe Biden’s names to cast my first-ever vote in a Presidential election.

I had envied those who were old enough to vote in 1996, 2000, and 2004. For countless national, state, local, and school district elections, I had felt a sense of being left out. I had learned about the candidates – even met a few every now and then – but I couldn’t participate in that basic civic duty of voting.

The 2008 Presidential election was the eighth time I’ve voted since registering just before my 18th birthday. The February after I registered, I found out that the school district was asking voters to renew a sinking fund millage. I went to City Hall, cast my first vote by absentee ballot, and a week and a half later I found out that the millage had passed. I felt part of the process for the first time, even though not many people voted.

My first in-person, at-the-polling-place vote was on Primary Election Day in August 2006. I had the chance to vote for myself as I was on the ballot for Precinct Delegate here in Michigan. It was uncontested as three of us ran for three spots. I still remember that chill I felt casting my first in-person vote. A few other elections have since taken place, and I haven’t missed one yet.

But voting in a general election for President… Now there’s something I hadn’t done. I applied for an absentee ballot a few days before I returned to school, and it came about a month before the election. (I would’ve re-registered at my school address, but I would’ve given up my spot as a Precinct Delegate to do so – which I didn’t want to do!) Still, I wasn’t eager to just vote it then and there and then mail it back, which I did in 2006. Instead, I voted it over time. Diane Hathaway for state Supreme Court one day, Carl Levin for US Senate another. Ballot proposals (to legalize medical marijuana and stem-cell research) another day.

But I saved the best for last. I chose October 21, my 21st birthday, to mark my ballot for Obama and Biden.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom’s cause.

Hope-hope-is what led me here today – with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

I teared up as I thought to them, “This one’s for you!” I used my pen, made from recycled materials, to fill in that oval next to Obama’s and Biden’s names.

...But in the 9 years I’ve been able to vote, I have voted, ooooh, never.

Yup, told you it was shameful.

Anyway, until last year I was very content with the fact that I was, “exercising my rights to not vote for any of the fascist bastards trying to fleece me for more money, blah blah etc. blah”.

Then, one of my friends wrote as their facebook status at some point during the last voting day (local elections, I believe) this:

“Caroline is hoping that you’ve all voted, even if you’ve spoiled your vote. People fought for us to be able to do that!”

And that got me thinking. People, and in particular women spent a LOT of time and effort fighting to make the rights of other women equal to that of men. And even years before that, people fought for the right to let the average Joe vote, rather than just nobility.

So here I am thinking all along that I’m exercising my rights to not vote, when the only way I can really do that is make a blank or spoiled vote. That way, I’m exercising my right to vote, yet making a political statement that I don’t believe (if that is the case) in any of the candidates to run the country/local government.

However, I will also make sure that I pay more attention to who and what the candidates will be trying to do for me, my family, my life, my community and my country, so I can make an informed choice of what to do when I actually DO vote.

Starting a war on false pretenses? I can’t wait to read my children’s history books and find your true legacy, GW. And I really can’t wait for January 20.

I completed this goal back in November, and it’s nice to know the guy I voted for won the election, and is about to be inaugurated.

Keeping up with politics and all the things on the ballot – issues and judges and senators – is really tough, and congrats to everybody who took the time to vote… and especially to those who vote more often than just the presidential election.

On October 22, I stood in line for nearly 3 hours just so I could vote in my first presidential election :]

...than actual ones, when it came to voting yesterday, as happens so often in my life.

I confess that I had not voted in the past several elections. I’m not proud of that. I’ve been shirking my duty and my privilege as a citizen lately, and felt bad about that. And because of my neglect, I wasn’t even certain that I would appear at the right polling location and be properly registered. Fortunately, I had actually FILED my voter’s registration card in a place where I could find it, so I did know where to go. But I worried that I wouldn’t be able to find that card before I looked for it, and after I found it, I worried that they might have changed the location and not informed me, or dropped me from the list, because I had never been there to vote.

And last week, during early voting, there were long lines every morning. I know that because one early voting location was the community center beside the walking track, and I had trouble finding a parking place before each morning walk last week. So, I imagined that I might have to wait hours to vote on election day.

As happens so often, all my troubles were imaginary. Within a minute or two, I found my voter’s registration card. I drove to the polling place at about 2pm (could just as easily have walked to it), walked in and found that, even though there were cars in the parking lot, I was the only one voting. NO LINE AT ALL. I think a lot of the cars belonged to all the friendly (and probably bored) poll workers, who walked me through the process in minutes without a single problem. They said there had been a crowd in the morning, so my timing was good.

So I voted. And I’m very glad. THIS WAS WORTH DOING. And it wasn’t really any trouble at all, except in my mind. :)

Voted Obama…and so happy he won:-)

...and I’m so inspired after this much-too-long campaign season to get to know the candidates as much as possible next time. Not through sound-bites or celebrity endorsements or smear remarks, but through research and consideration of what past accomplishments and past behavior may mean for future performance as an elected official.

And I’m not talking about the office of US President only. I’m talking about local and state officials as well, including judges. These people shape our country. We need to know them and vote wisely.

Barack Obama is my President!
My President!

I haven’t said that about someone in a long time. :)

What a wonderful day! I walked the 10 blocks to my polling place, amid occasional showers of colorful, rustling leaves. The people on the street are talking about voting, and I hope they go and do it. I always enjoy the community aspect of voting. Every election I see neighbors and members of my church at the polling place. Today I saw the entire family from across the street there.

_{I love my “I voted” sticker with the St. Louis Arch!}

I usually vote absentee, but didn’t receive a ballot this year, so my Dad drove me to the local polling place. We didn’t have to wait long, but Dad said there were a lot more people there than usual (we arrived before 9am). More people were walking in as we left ~ it seems we just missed the rush.

I’m not as thrilled with Obama, as so many people are (sorry), and what with the turn-out, a part of me is wishing that I’d voted for my real first choice: a third-party candidate. Out of the people running to become this year’s Presidential candidate for the Democrats, Kucinich was my favourite. I hope he gets his chance another time.