Today I paid my civic duty by making the trek to the polling booth and voting. I typically like to vote on Election Day, but decided I'd vote a few days early. I have a couple of observations that I would love to hear the readers input.
First of all, as I was next in line to get my ballot, I had to wait a couple of extra minutes because someone had come in who was disabled. Apparently, people who are disabled don't have to wait in line. Now, honestly, this doesn't bother me because I'm a pretty patient person and I wasn't in a hurry, but people who are disabled can wait in line, too! Heck, I tell my students (all impaired in some way) to wait all the time. Perhaps my years as a speech therapist has allowed me to not feel as sorry for one who is disabled as much as your average Joe (shout out Joe the Plumber).
Secondly, as I was waiting in line, a former student of mine was waiting to vote. Now I assume it was his first election (come on now, I'm not that old) and a couple of family members were waiting for him. Remember, if they were a student of mine, then they were impaired in some way. As he made it to the front of the line and was getting his ballot, his mother went up to the front with him and took him back to the polling booth. Okay, so this is my problem. I am all over everyone's right to vote, but I'm thinking it crosses the line when one has to walk another through the process. Now, I think it's one thing when there is some fine motor situation and one needs help filling in the box or hitting the right key on the electronic ballot, but I assure you this was not the case. It makes me feel as if someone had two votes to give instead of one! Wouldn't that be nice?
3 comments:
I've waited to comment until election day...
I love your passion, Marci. I'm with you on the waiting in line thing. Why can't everyone wait?
As for the second vote, in my opinion, how you will be voting should be discussed and decided upon before entering the polling place. And, if you are disabled to the point of being able to vote on your own, then you should request an absentee ballot. It still might give someone "two" votes, but I'm not sure how that could be avoided anyway.
As for me today, with the issues we are voting on in CA, I feel like my brain has much bigger fish to fry. I appreciated being able to be annoyed about a couple little issues, and having the chance to momentarily leave behind the memory of being called a bully and a bigot for my particular vote today.
Oops, in that second paragraph I meant, "... to the point of NOT being able to vote on your own..."
Maybe the volunteers should assist with the voting versus having your MOM help you vote, I mean really... And I could have used a helper when I went to vote, because I kept touching the screen and thinking, "this thing is broken", until I read the sign that said clearly (in all CAPS) "This is NOT a touch screen." Hmmmm. We all have our moments...
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