Well, the day has finally come. The day when we see a temporary decline in robo-calls. The day when the spiders in our mailboxes will once again be able to build their homes without risk of having them destroyed by the multitude of campaign literature–all of them oversized this year, it seems–that have filled the boxes every day. And we’ll be able to watch television and see tire, car, and medical pitches rather than political ads. At least for a short interim. It’s primary election day.
I don’t think I’ve missed an election–primary, general, or run-off–since I’ve been voting. My first ballot I cast in a presidential election, and I did so by absentee ballot because I was out of state attending college. Not all of “my” candidates have won, of course. Too often, I’ve been on the losing side, it seems. But that’s okay. I’ve made my tiny, conscience-driven voice heard.
Today’s election is a strange one for us here in our district. We have races from local offices; state representative; and state-wide offices for governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. (A few other state-wide offices are on the ballot, too, but the incumbents have no opposition.) We have five candidates running for governor, including the incumbent. But the weird race is for the U.S. House seat for which the incumbent is not running. An unprecedented 13 candidates are vying for that seat. What are the chances of anyone winning that race outright? We’ll soon be voting in a run-off!
My impact on the voting has declined over the years. I used to be able to deliver five votes: my wife, three of our four daughters, and myself. (The fourth daughter had already moved out.) But now that my daughters have married and moved to other states, we’re down to a mere two votes. In fact, who knows, but I might be down to even fewer if my wife cancels out my ballot by voting for someone other than the candidates we’ve discussed!
Be that as it may, I’m fulfilling one of my most important duties of citizenship today. If your state is one of the others voting today, do your duty. If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain if things don’t go as you hope!
Copyright (c) 2018, Dennis L. Peterson
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