Democracy In Action
Friday I took friend C to Columbus so she could vote absentee-in-person; she's lived in Australia for 17 years but retained her citizenship, and this is the first time she's been here to vote. So we went to Veterans' Memorial where all of Franklin County absentee votes are to be cast and waited in line for 3-1/2 hours with thousands of people.
We stood next to a young lady of 32 who was voting for the first time in her life; she'd persuaded her mother, age 51, to vote for the first time in her life. The time passed pleasantly; both C and I brought knitting, and we saw others in line knitting. I heard no griping about the wait. Everyone was upbeat, and occasionally someone would come by with donuts or water to pass out to people in line.
I'd cast my own vote early in Marion, waiting 25 minutes on Thursday afternoon with phones ringing off the hook in the Board of Elections office. That was surprising enough; what I saw in Columbus was almost overwhelming. After all the years of annoyance about people not turning out to vote - wow, what to say. I'm glad to see it.
We've done a bit of running around but, as both of us have health concerns, we're not pushing it. Thankfully she's here long enough that we can catch up at our leisure! This week I think we're heading off to a couple of yarn shops, big surprise.
We stood next to a young lady of 32 who was voting for the first time in her life; she'd persuaded her mother, age 51, to vote for the first time in her life. The time passed pleasantly; both C and I brought knitting, and we saw others in line knitting. I heard no griping about the wait. Everyone was upbeat, and occasionally someone would come by with donuts or water to pass out to people in line.
I'd cast my own vote early in Marion, waiting 25 minutes on Thursday afternoon with phones ringing off the hook in the Board of Elections office. That was surprising enough; what I saw in Columbus was almost overwhelming. After all the years of annoyance about people not turning out to vote - wow, what to say. I'm glad to see it.
We've done a bit of running around but, as both of us have health concerns, we're not pushing it. Thankfully she's here long enough that we can catch up at our leisure! This week I think we're heading off to a couple of yarn shops, big surprise.
Labels: friends/family, politics
posted by rcclive at
12:26 PM
2 Comments:
I didn't bring knitting to stand in line; brought a book. And here's what's sad: I didn't see that anyone else brought a book. Phones, smart phones, iPods, and a Nintendo DS, but no books.
By
yarmando, at 8:22 AM
I was surprised not to see more "entertainment" options myself; but then I never go anywhere without knitting or a book. Gads, how could one spend all that time doing nothing? Boggles the mind ... lc2
By
rcclive, at 5:41 PM
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