THESE CHANGING TIMES

Saturday morning, Michael and I stood in a fairly impressive line for early voting. It was a slow moving line, so we had plenty of time to run through another review of the ballot and discuss the pros and cons of yes and nos for some of the state questions. I always feel like I’m going in to take a test I am not fully prepared to take even though I studied before hand. When we’d finished our ballot review, I told Michael about the story Karen Walrond posted in her Instagram feed about how her daughter had to use frequent flyer miles to fly home from college so she could vote. You can see the story here: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17941902179271771/

It’s a feelings inducing story that will make you cry and then want to punch someone. It is a story of voter suppression. A very important story of voter suppression.

Here’s why.

So often the idea of voter suppression conjures up the image of not just the minority, but specifically those living in poverty levels. Voter suppression is happening to a majority of us because choosing a Tuesday during normal working hours as the only time to vote is, in itself, voter suppression. Without early voting, the poles are only open on Tuesday 6:00 AM- 7:00 PM. Now, I have a regular 9-5 job with a pretty flexible schedule, but let’s put that 6:00 - 7:00 time frame into my daily schedule. I get up at 5:30 AM to walk the dog. Josephine and I get home five minutes before Michael needs to be up and in the shower. That’s around 6:35 and then I get in the shower when he’s done sometime around 6:45 (?). I’m usually leaving my house for work at 7:20something. If I go to the polls at this time, I risk being late for work depending on the line. Not a big deal for me because of where I work, but a serious fireable deal for others. I leave work in the evenings around 5:00 PM. Google maps tells me it should take me fifteen minutes to get to my polling place. So, techinically, if there’s not a line, I could be voting by 5:15 PM. As long as I’m checked in by 7:00 PM, no matter the line, I will still be able to cast my ballot.

This sounds doable.

A number of people in my neighborhood rely on public transportation to get to and from work. If I was riding the bus from work to the polls it would take me thirty minutes to get there. Again, that only takes in account my job schedule. Many people in poverty levels are working two jobs. They have to navigate their voting time around bus and work schedules and I have yet to mention children and family obligations like picking those kids up from daycare or school or getting them to sports ball practice. Most health care workers I know, work twelve hour shifts, making that 6:00 AM - 7:00 PM time frame impossible. This is why receiving a requested absentee ballot is vital for voting rights. This is why no-question early voting options are vital for voting rights.

You know, we don’t have to keep doing things because that’s just the way it’s always been done. Especially if is not working for today’s society. One of the things we should all be demanding is voting rights that make voting easily accessible to all citizens.

Vote!

VOTING ANXIETY

We got impatient and decided to do absentee voting today

See this Instagram photo by @elephant_soap * 5 likes

Usually, I'm pretty excited about voting on election days. Even when I was little, standing in line with Mom and Dad was a treat. I was fascinated by the voting booths and I always got a sticker. The act of voting has just always made feel like I am truly part of this country and going to the polls on election day is part of that. This year, though...I'm not so sure. This election year has been physically disabling for me to witness, mostly because those voices that support Trump have been so loud and scary. I cringe knowing that our country is filled with such hatefulness. There have been moments when I've been caught chewing on my lip with worry over Trump wining this election, even though everyone around me keeps telling me it is not going to happen. Every time someone tells me there's no way he'll win I have flashbacks of November 8th, 2000. 

I started having anxiety about making it to the polling place on time on election day and about how long the line might be weeks ago. I'm a planner and there is nothing I can predict about the state of our poling place on election day. They had technical difficulties when we went to vote in the primaries that resulted in long slow moving lines. A repeat of something like that makes me worry about logistics of dinner and the length of time the dog is stuck in her crate. I mean, what if we end up standing in line so long that polls close before we can vote?! When someone at work mentioned last week that you could do early voting at Union Station, I started to think really hard about just getting it over with. I knew we'd be at Union Station at some point on Saturday with Robin and S because Union Station is my favorite place to take visitors. I like to point out the bullet holes in the front of the building. So, I asked Michael on Saturday morning how he felt about voting early. He thought this sounded like a splendid idea.

Saturday morning, Michael and I voted in the 2016 Presidential Election. Since the early voting place was set up just like a regular voting place, I didn't feel like I was missing out on the voting experience. They even gave us our "I Voted!" stickers. I looked at Michael when we left the polling place and I opened my mouth to say "I just voted for the first female president of the United States" except a sob bubble of emotion just came out instead. I was a little over come by being part of a very big historical moment that has been too long in the making. I was also a lot relieved. The rush and hustle of getting to our polling place in time to vote is no longer even an issue or thought in my brain. All of that worry and anxiety floated away as I placed my ballot in the designated envelope, watched a lady notarize it and then hand it back to me so I could put it in the ballot box. 

I'd like to remind some people who I've heard say that they are not voting this year, that there's a whole lot more on the ballot than who will be our next president. Real change starts at a local level and in your own community. If you don't vote you don't have a voice in what is happening in your own community. You are also hitching your wagon to representatives who do not represent you and senators who do not care if they do their job. I'd also like to remind one young woman in particular that women had to literally fight for their rights to vote in this country. Suffragettes faced imprisonment and beatings. Some of them lost their children because the men they were married to kicked them out of their homes. VOTING IS A PRIVILEGE. There are women in other countries who risk their lives just by going to the polls even though it is their legal right to vote. VOTING IS A PRIVILEGE.  

VOTE!

Civic Duty: CHECK!