Obligatory Election Post

Whether or not they voted this week, I believe that every American with a pulse and the ability to speak has had something to say about this election.  I also believe that my heart is still beating and people could still understand me if I say “Enough already with this campaign &%*!”.  There is no one here to test that, which could lead me into a very interesting philosophical question, but that’s neither here nor there.

So I do have something to say about this election.  Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick.  What interests me is the actual act of voting.  This year was the first time I voted in person rather than by absentee ballot.  I went to the address given to me (several times) in the mail, a local middle school.  There I walked around following signs to come to the entrance.  Just outside, a gentleman handed me a sample Democratic ballot—and only a few steps beyond, another man handed me a sample Republican ballot.

It made me laugh.  How can people honestly think to influence anyone at that stage in the game?  By the time people walk into the building to vote, they know who they’re voting for.  If they didn’t, they might as well have stayed home, and I’m sure many people did for just that reason.  Yet there they were, the volunteers, braving the cold (well, it wasn’t that cold, but it wasn’t warm, either) to give it one last try.

I’ll come back to these volunteers later.  Inside the building (a gym, which reminded me that some things never change), I joined the curving line marked by caution tape and waited.  I was very glad that I’d brought a book along with me.  People were chatting idly, some about the election, others not.  Some people had brought their children.  I saw one woman leave the line early, as she couldn’t afford to wait; I heard her say she’d come back.  Despite the wait, the procedure went smoothly—at the front of the line, I showed my ID, received a ticket, and was shown to the first available booth.  The electronic ballot was self-explanatory and very quick.

All this made me think about what an enormous endeavor this must be.  Hold on, I’ll explain.  I’ve learned over the years that when events look effortless, they almost inevitably were not.  Events that run smoothly mean dozens—in this case thousands—of people working together towards the same goal of efficiency.  Those who designed the electronic voting booths, those who collect IDs, those who gather the information on voters, those who select the voting locations and notify voters where to go, those who tally the votes…it’s simply huge.  And yet after the campaign, voting is often just a relief, a thank-goodness-it’s-finally-over moment (at least it was for me).  But I would like to take  a moment to be thankful that voting is so very easy in our nation, and to appreciate the many, many people who make it so.

PS—when I left the building after voting, the same two volunteers handing out sample ballots were chatting and laughing with one another.  It was nice to see, after months of Republicans and Democrats at each other’s throats.  Our differing opinions don’t mean we can’t be friends.  Think about that for a while.

Photo credit: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/04/opinion/norden-voting-rights/index.html