Oh how I love to vote!
It’s such a simple thing–drawing a line on a piece of paper–yet such a precious opportunity. Think of the millions, no BILLIONS of people who have never had the pleasure of feeling that they had a part in their own governing.
Our experience was interesting. Robin and I left early this morning and walked the two blocks to our inner-city local polling station, an elementary school. After wading through dozens of knee-high little people we found our polling spot below a kid-drawn timeline of Dr. Martin Luther King.
We mingled with a handful of early-voters who were fumbling with ballots, and as we filled out our registration cards we were treated with a radio program by the school kids talking in unison over the crackling intercom. They announced what was on the lunch menu for the day (chicken parmesan and green beans), then led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Of course, they also pointed out that the election was being held today and that their school, the Marie H. Reed Learning Center, was one of the polling locations. We were treated with a strange dose of reality when the adult on the intercom announced that today was an “important race for president between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,” with no mention of the Republican candidates. I suppose that for an inner city DC neighborhood, the statement is pretty accurate.
(Do you ever have those days where you feel the world unfolding in front of you like Forrest Gump? I do.)
I noticed that a blog in the New York Times even had a photo of OUR polling place:
and a couple of extra photos:
L to Z for me
A clean haircut, a warm jacket, and an American ballot…
not printed on recycled paper 