Lucy Blogs
Why I refuse to be an early voter.
Posted by Kate G. in US Election 2008.
I’ve never heard of so many people going to the polls in the weeks before the election. And I think it’s silly.
Here’s why.
For openers, I’m a total procrastinator. Since I started getting homework in first grade, this has been a problem for me. I’m not sure what causes it, but it’s become chronic at this point (thank GOD I’m out of college). I just…can’t do much of anything on time, unless I’m completely in love with it. Then again, I fall out of love with most stuff before I finish it. So, yeah, as a last-minute gal, I won’t be voting until after work on Tuesday. This is probably MOST of my reason. However, there is another.
Normally, I’m not much for the pomp and circumstance of certain occasions. I actually would rather avoid things that “everyone else is doing,” and if I like something and everyone else starts to as well, I lose interest. In most situations, my attitude would be “maybe I don’t WANT to do it on the day that everyone else is.” But not on Election Day, and definitely not this time.
Election Day is the one day I don’t mind standing in lines. It’s the one time of year that we should feel that we have some sort of power (assuming our electoral college votes with the populus, as it should). Whether you think your vote counts or not doesn’t matter; it’s hard not to get swept up in the idea that it does, once you have that pen or lever in your hand or that computer screen in front of you.
It’s exciting to go to the polls; you feel connected to everyone in the room, no matter what side you’re voting for. And when you see people supporting your candidates, a brief cameraderie is forged. Maybe you’ll stand outside for a few extra minutes talking with them before you leave. Maybe they’ll make you feel a little bit better, a little less alone. It’s so much more exciting to vote on the actual day and park yourself in front of the TV and wait for your vote to be counted, wait to see what color your state will be. It’s a ritual, something millions of us will have in common that night. I feel like all of this loses a bit of the intensity if you vote weeks in advance. The suspense goes away after a while, then Election Night comes along and you’ve already checked out of the process.
And this is no time to check out early! What a race it’s been, and what a precedent this election is setting. I want to be a part of the actual event, the actual day, that history is made (either way, it will be). I want to be able to say “I voted on Election Day, 2008.” I want to be able to tell my kids (or nieces and nephews) about waiting in line on that day. What it sounded like. Smelled like. How I felt. Who I talked to.
Maybe this is all a bunch of crap. Maybe I sound like a super-dork who has too much faith in a failing system. But it doesn’t matter. I may not know who will win, but there are a few things I do know. I know that I love the excitement of the all-night tallying, the crazy electoral maps they come out with, the pundits arguing back and forth.
I know, deep down, that if one vote–my vote–doesn’t count on its own, certainly all of our votes together do. I know that all of the world is watching this one, holding their breath. I know that this year is historic, and I want to be in the thick of it, not getting it out of the way as quickly as possible.
Most of all, I know that after November 4th, nothing will be the same, and I want to be able to say I was there, in line, making history, that day.
US Election 2008 |3 Responses to “Why I refuse to be an early voter.”
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I share your excitement about the vote this year and the thrill of watching the vote tallying, and I’m majorly bummed that I’m not even going to be in the country for it. I’m going to be halfway around the world in New Zealand. Voting early was no walk in the park either. You have to order the ballot, vote, then get it notarized before you can send it off. You really have to want to vote to do it. I have to admit, I feel a little jipped. There will be no nervous excitement while waiting in line to vote. And I always wonder, will my vote really be counted? I wonder if all the absentee votes this year aren’t people rallying around the election, rather than coping out early. I mean, maybe we’ll actually have a record breaking election this year. I really hope so. That, above all else, would be such a sign that the system still works pretty well, that people feel represented by this democracy. I will be following eagerly from New Zealand. I hope it’s a historic year in so many ways.
I totally agree with everything you said about voting ON the day…to me early voting is like opening your gifts on Christmas Eve and totally a cheat and a let-down. That being said, in our swing state of NC here in the “belt” (not the beltWAY the Bible belt-ahhhh!) I have been getting hourly pleas from the Barack-the-vote Obama campaign to vote early. Brian and I took a vacation day yesterday and broke down and voted. I am kind of relieved because it took 2+ hours and it is expected to be worse on the 4th. The Demo. party has been running shuttles to get “souls to the polls” for people without transportation. We waited, standing, many elderly and young moms with kids and no one complained in line. I kept thinking that there are people in other countries in food lines. Plus, after taking Thursday and Friday off for Tucker’s wisdom teeth to be removed, I can’t afford to miss any more work. Go Obama!
At this point, whatever gets people voting is a-okay by me!
I’m with Stacy. I’m voting from Scotland. AGAIN. I managed to be here in 2004 as well, and that was the first election I was allowed to vote in, so I’ve never actually voted in a presidential election ON election day. 2004 was a bit of doom and gloom, so it wasn’t that exciting. But I can’t help but feel a little left out this year because of all the excitement. I sent my vote off a week ago. I didn’t need to get it notarised, so maybe different states have different absentee voting laws, but it was kind of anti-climactic. And I won’t really get to watch my state turn a color on the 4th. In fact, by the time all that is happening, I’ll probably be in bed. I don’t know if they really do count the absentee ballots or not (seeing as how they don’t have to be in until the 2nd friday past election day or some crap like that), but hopefully I’ll wake up in the morning on the 5th to find that Obama made it through.