Democracy Makes Me Verklempt

[lydamorehouse]

 This morning Shawn, Mason and I all got up super-early in order to get to the polls early.  Actually, I got up before six am because I didn't think any of us should attempt anything so complicated as voting without a fancy latte in hand. 

This Congressional (or if you insist, mid-term) election is the first time Mason has been eligible to vote. So, he came with us in order to both register and participate in democracy for the very first time. 

We actually arrived at the polls just as they were opening their doors and when Shawn and I discovered that no one else had voted yet, we waited for Mason to finish the process of registering and filling out his ballot and let him be the very first voter in our precinct. When his paper ballot went into the machine reader, the poll workers burst into spontaneous applause. 

I might have cried a little. 

So proud.

Comments

[mtbc]

That's really great, thank you for sharing. (-:

[lydamorehouse]

You're very welcome. It was a wonderful moment.

[bibliofile]

WOOHOO, WAY TO GO MASON!!!!

When I worked the polls, we always applauded first-time voters that we learned about. (Usually someone else told us.)

[lydamorehouse]

That's so cool.

My very first election was a caucus so no one even knew I was new and I didn't exactly vote, even though I did participate in the whole thing.

[elainegrey]

So sweet! Huzzah!

[lydamorehouse]

Yes, indeedy!

[sabotabby]

Yay!

[lydamorehouse]

I know, right?!

[rafiwinters]

Wonderful! Voting is just about my favorite thing to do. Congratulations on the baby growing up. I was so thrilled to vote in my first election--though it was a bit futile as this was the fall of 1984, and everyone KNEW Reagan was going to beat poor Mondale... (yes, I'm that old)

I was first person in line to vote the day we elected Obama to the Presidency for the first time.

[lydamorehouse]

You and I must be exactly the same again, or nearly so. With that election, I think I might have missed the cut off (I was born in mid-November, so I miss a lot of stuff that should be my year.)

Whoo hoo!

Also I agree that voting is possibly one of my favorite things to do, too. It makes me shockingly happy.

[kore]

AWW. That's lovely.

[lydamorehouse]

Innit?

[naomikritzer]

Poll workers ADORE new voters.

[lydamorehouse]

They do! Plus my voter is especially adorable!

[spiderplanet]

That will be the cutest thing I read on the internet today. :)
Thanks for sharing that.

[lydamorehouse]

I'm not sure about this compliment as the Internet has been a toxic soup lately, but I'll TAKE IT!

Thanks!

[j00j]

yaaaaaaay!!! <3

[lydamorehouse]

Yay!!

[minnehaha]

Gosh, what a sweet scene. Thanks for sharing it.

K.

[lydamorehouse]

You're welcome. It was quite wonderful.

[pegkerr]

Thanks to Mason for SAVING DEMOCRACY!

[pegkerr]

Appropos of nothing, here is my child-and-democracy story, which I sent out via email on November 8, 1995, when Fiona was about two and a half years old:

We went to the polling place after picking up Fiona from daycare. The only race in Minneapolis was the CityVote and the school board elections. Fiona watched Mom take her ballot and mark it with that cool blue pen, and then bring it to the machine which mysteriously sucked it away.

As Daddy transferred Fiona to Mommy, and then went to pick up his ballot, Fiona started to whine, "I wanna vote, too!" The election judges thought this was adorable, but it became less adorable as we went out to the car and tried to strap her into the car seat and she began wailing and thrashing around. "I WANNA VOTE TOO!!!"

So when we got home, I made up a paper ballot for her, and told her she had to pick one of the arrows and connect the two halves. After she had "voted," I told her to take it to Daddy. He grabbed the ballot from her hands and said "SHOONK shoonk" and hid it behind his back so that it "disappeared." Just like the real voting machine! This was highly gratifying. She had voted,
just like Mommy and Daddy.

Democracy was saved.

Also this story from March 6, 1996:

My daughter shamed me into going to the DFL Caucus last night

I didn't want to go last night when I got home from work. "I need to write," I grumbled to Rob. "My book contract proposal is overdue. And Fiona needs to go to bed by 8:30, so I wouldn't be able to stay for more than half an hour anyway. And our candidates are set, so what's the point of my going anyway?"

"Well," Rob said reluctantly, "you have a point. Maybe I should just go alone." He turned to Fiona and said, "Wouldn't you rather stay home with Mommy tonight? Maybe take a bath?"

Unexpectedly, my daughter displayed a budding sense of the responsibilities of democracy: "I wanna go to the caucus."

Rob and I looked at her in consternation. All day long we had been prepping her for this: "You'll be going to the caucus tonight with Mommy and Daddy, Fiona. It'll be in a church (not our church) and you'll get to stay in the kiddie keep while Mommy and Daddy go to a meeting. You'll get to play in this new and different kiddie keep, and meet some new kids, and Mommy will come to get you after a little while and take you home and put you to bed."

Apparently, we'd preprogrammed her too well.

"Honey, there's really no point in our going," I objected.

"I wanna go to the CAUCUS." (When thwarted, toddlers tend to repeat themselves.)

"But sweetheart ... "

"I WANNA GO TO THE CAUCUS! (Now the tears were starting) I WANNA GO TO THE CAUCUS!"

We went to the caucus.

We took separate cars, since we'd be leaving separately. I had a terrible time trying to find a parking place, and almost turned the damn car around and drove home in defeat, except that a little voice piped up from the back seat, "We're going to the caucus?"

"Yeah," I snarled. "We're going to the caucus." I found a place several blocks away and carried her to the church, slipping in the snow all the way.

I left her in the childcare room, which made me extremely nervous. The assigned child care workers hadn't bothered to show up, so a dad was filling in. On the other side of the room, a hyperactive 8-year old boy was racing around, swinging a 2'x4' board over his head wildly. ("Don't worry," said the dad. "I'm keeping him on that side of the room.")

Sure enough, I was only able to stay for about a half hour. All they did while I was there was wrangle over who should be the precinct chair; they never even got to the resolutions. It really wasn't worth it.

But Fiona was perfectly satisfied with the evening. So few children had showed up that they simply gave her the Lion King coloring book to take home that she had been coloring in.

"I like caucuses,'' she confided as I drove her home.

We don't have to worry. I think the torch of democracy has been passed on to the next generation.

[lydamorehouse]

Aw, such great stories! Thanks for sharing them!