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likethebeerI love the feeling. I drive down to the town hall and walk in and the little old ladies are waiting there with their cookies and, mostly, they're pretty nice. I still feel like a teenager voting for the first time.
Which is really good, considering the fact that I didn't vote for the first time until I was 25.
I think one of the things I love is that I'm now voting in little elections. Not just the presidential, not just bi-yearly, I'm voting in elections in April! I'm one of the, about, 300 people who will vote in my town (ok, maybe more than that, but still, not a lot of people). I'll watch the results (and maybe my town won't even be displayed at the bottom of the television screen) and see the little numbers for each town--435 here, 192 there--and I'll know that I'm one of those little people.
I voted w/my little black marker on the ballot (in the voting booth which isn't really a booth, it's just a stand, but at least it's not the kitchen sink, which is where I voted in November), and put that sucker into the box; then I took one of their proferred Hershey's kisses, and thanked the ladies for being there.
I like having some say in local politics. To at least voice my decisions about things going on in my state and my town and my village (yeah--there's a difference between the town and the village around here--and tell me, because part of our land is in the village but the home in which we reside is in the town). Then I can say, "I didn't vote for that!" if I don't like someone. I can feel like I tried with the school board if they come out with something I don't like, or I can feel triumphant if they do something I do like.
And, this time, I actually got the local paper before the election* and actually read about some of the people! And their views! And I made decisions based on this and remembered who I wanted to vote for!** As a consequence, I cast my vote for the local school board--and was able to do so because I liked so-and-so's feelings about the budget, about working with the teachers union!--along w/the other things, like the village treasurer and a member of the state supreme court. It's this crazy ride, man, where I just don't know what's going to happen!
It's like playing the lottery!
*mda and I have talked about swallowing our hatred of wasting all that paper and subscribing to the local paper.
**as a note: I normally have not voted for positions for people if I didn't know anything about the person but I have sat there, on the days of these smaller elections, and have basically asked people who I should vote for. Which I've tried, and hey, these are people I trust, but I wonder about my whole standing in the democratic process when my entire basis for voting for someone is that, the day of the election, another person is saying, "Oh--vote for this person." Whom I've never heard of, so I have to write their names on the palm of my hand to even remember them b/c I've never heard of them before.
Which is really good, considering the fact that I didn't vote for the first time until I was 25.
I think one of the things I love is that I'm now voting in little elections. Not just the presidential, not just bi-yearly, I'm voting in elections in April! I'm one of the, about, 300 people who will vote in my town (ok, maybe more than that, but still, not a lot of people). I'll watch the results (and maybe my town won't even be displayed at the bottom of the television screen) and see the little numbers for each town--435 here, 192 there--and I'll know that I'm one of those little people.
I voted w/my little black marker on the ballot (in the voting booth which isn't really a booth, it's just a stand, but at least it's not the kitchen sink, which is where I voted in November), and put that sucker into the box; then I took one of their proferred Hershey's kisses, and thanked the ladies for being there.
I like having some say in local politics. To at least voice my decisions about things going on in my state and my town and my village (yeah--there's a difference between the town and the village around here--and tell me, because part of our land is in the village but the home in which we reside is in the town). Then I can say, "I didn't vote for that!" if I don't like someone. I can feel like I tried with the school board if they come out with something I don't like, or I can feel triumphant if they do something I do like.
And, this time, I actually got the local paper before the election* and actually read about some of the people! And their views! And I made decisions based on this and remembered who I wanted to vote for!** As a consequence, I cast my vote for the local school board--and was able to do so because I liked so-and-so's feelings about the budget, about working with the teachers union!--along w/the other things, like the village treasurer and a member of the state supreme court. It's this crazy ride, man, where I just don't know what's going to happen!
It's like playing the lottery!
*mda and I have talked about swallowing our hatred of wasting all that paper and subscribing to the local paper.
**as a note: I normally have not voted for positions for people if I didn't know anything about the person but I have sat there, on the days of these smaller elections, and have basically asked people who I should vote for. Which I've tried, and hey, these are people I trust, but I wonder about my whole standing in the democratic process when my entire basis for voting for someone is that, the day of the election, another person is saying, "Oh--vote for this person." Whom I've never heard of, so I have to write their names on the palm of my hand to even remember them b/c I've never heard of them before.
