Voting: Privilege and Responsibility

Great Hall Ellis Island

As Americans, we have a moral responsibility occasioned upon us by the privilege of voting. We are the first country in modern times to put running the country entirely in the hands of its people. That is an awesome (as in jaw-dropping) power. Many of the people who came here willingly, came because their homelands gave no power at all to the people. There was a time when anyone could come to America (more on that in a future post) the trouble was getting permission to leave the old country. People came because they wanted to choose their future. The American Dream for nearly every previous generation, was the possibility that, with hard work and careful saving, one could own a home ~ not a McMansion on five acres, a house on a standard city lot ~ and the amazing opportunity to have a say in who made the laws.

Part of that dream included responsibility. No one expected a free ride. No one really wanted a free ride, there is dignity in providing for oneself. There is dignity in meeting one's responsibility. Voting is one of those responsibilities. We cannot sit idly by and complain about the country going to Hell in a Handbasket (as a child I wondered about this Helena Hanbiscuit and why people always seemed mad when they talked about her) if we won't even vote.

Tuesday, I worked as an Election Judge. I sat in one spot from 7:00 AM until 8:00 PM, taking one quick break at the end to cast my own ballot. I spent the entire day registering voters. Thirteen hours registering voters. One-third of the votes cast in that precinct were by people who registered on Election Day. Many states don't have that option because they are afraid of voter fraud. Minnesota routinely has one of the highest voter turn-outs in the country and the Same Day Registration is a significant factor inthat. As the forms are inspected after the fact, when it is too late to undo the fraudulent vote ~ they discover almost no bad applications. In other words, the fears of those who would forbid Same Day Registration are unfounded.

What I noticed among those people registering was that nearly all of them fell into one of three groups:

A) Somehow, inadvertently dropped from the roster. People who had lived and voted here for years, lost into computer oblivion. Would you deny them the right to vote because they were screwed over by a computer?
B) Poor people ~ like the homeless guy who didn't know upon whose couch he'd spend the winter so he couldn't pre-register. His kindhearted friend vouched that yes, for the time being, homeless guy lives here. (N.B. in Minnesota, you must vote at a specific polling place based on your residence) Poor people whose rental was condemned after the cut-off for pre-registration and may have found a new place mere days before the election. Poor people like the grandma who moved in days ago to avoid a state-run nursing home. Poor people like a pregnant girl whose boyfriend ran when the stick turned blue and grandpa just took her in. Fate just kicked them around and now the state should do it again?
C) Educated, entitled, middle-class folks too lazy to register in advance (Doesn't it happen when I move? Not if you don't tell us, dumbass.) Or who can't grasp the whole voting where they live concept (Well, I work over here, this is easier)

Guess which group is least likely to have the right paperwork? You guessed "C"? Why, you're brilliant! Don't feel bad when I can't help them. A & B on the other hand. . . I had a mother come in with her son and his birth certificate, because his ID had just been stolen ~ actually, she just had to vouch for him. I had dozens of people come in with state issued ID's with a correct address and an armload of back-up proof, just in case. Getting a new ID costs money, we had families come in with one person who had changed the ID, vouching for the six who hadn't yet. I had more than one adolescent Hmong come in with Mom, Dad, Grandma & and Auntie to fill out all their forms and act as translator. I had a couple of newly Naturalized Citizens and a lot of newly minted adults casting their first vote.

Statue of Liberty

I felt privileged to assist them. They were so eager to vote that I found myself trying desperately to get them registered. We almost always found a way. The vouching option is a Godsend ~ a registered voter in your precinct can sign your application and vouch that they know you and you do live nearby. People came back with boyfriends, wives, grandpas, cousins, even a landlord was willing to come in. And then the vouchers may as well vote, since they're already at the poll; some of them I'm sure wouldn't have otherwise. All those folks so eager to vote reminded me of how great America is. Thank you, voters.