The Hope of Politics
by Primo Encarnación Chip Collis
In my many election seasons, I’ve seen a few polling places. I’m sure you all have, too. But as I was just catching a glimpse of MSNBC, I saw another one. It looked like a conference room, perhaps in a hotel, or conference center. There was a certain sameness to it that reminded me of all the different ones I’ve seen: mostly empty, a line of tables to sign in, the booths, as far from the tables and everything else as they could be. It’s a comforting similarity.
But even more comforting are the differences. Add this conference room to the class room, the gymnasium, and the foyer of the middle school, or cafeteria of the high school. I’ve seen church halls and church basements; fire stations and police stations; senior homes and private homes; Elks Clubs, VFW Halls, KofC bars, Masonic Temples and the Loyal Order of Moose!; the library, the park district building, the City Hall, the County Courthouse; the junior college and the university – and just plain wherever an odd corner could be found, and people could gather.
Every single space could be found in every conceivable shape that architecture could dream, and engineering could design, and The Common Men and Women could build. And that They could also staff, because just regular folks all adapted all these different places to a common goal: political freedom, in the service of our country, and each other.
And that, my friends, is the Hope of Politics.
So vote! Today and tomorrow and each and every time it’s offered. Because, for once, for truly:
Freedom.
The first time I was able to vote in a Presidential election, I was living in LA. I registered to vote at McGovern’s campaign office and was surprised to find that my voting location was in somebody’s home! It was a very nice, old place and the furniture had been moved out of the living and dining rooms and election booths set up.
In El Paso, voting took place in schools.
Here in DC, I vote at a Baptist church right around the corner. The local schools are also used in the other precincts.
I love Election Day!
1I love elections and polling places. I love the ccountdown (btw, any of you in Travis Cty vote for Chantal Eldridge whom I think has been smeared unduly. There. ) I love this group and others who talk about all the reasons we should vote or not vote for a certain person. What I don’t love is people who say “Oh, I don’t vote.” I can’t imagine choosing not to vote. I’ve been doing it for well over fifty years. This year one of my dreams came true: our youngest son decided to register to vote. I’ve been waiting a long time. I said “Read, listen, think about it, make a choice. But at least vote.”
2This is what makes America great. You brought tears to my eyes.
3If you don’t vote.. Don’t com-plane.
4In 1996 my sainted mother axed me to help her go vote. Lord gawd she voted in the gym of the long closed neighborhood middle school’s I attended as a youf. It was cleaned up of course, but jeez…. what a flood of memories. Mostly bad teen angst but some good.
5As a music teacher, before the powers that be realized we should not have school on voting days, many an unobservant voter wandered into my classroom, looking for the booths. Some people realized right away that they were in the wrong place, but some stayed to watch the children singing and playing the recorder. The kids got applause and then the voters got directions. That was before terrorism, school shootings and the proliferation of guns made it way too dangerous to allow the taxpayers to enjoy, first-hand, the wonders they were providing. Ah, ’tis sad.
6We have a duty to vote because of the people who suffered and in some cases died so that we could, and because of the people around the world who can’t vote, or whose “votes” without choice are only a meaningless farce for their leaders’ propaganda.
Besides, who wants to give up their right to b**** and swear about the results?
I’ll be voting next month in Maryland.
7Love this! And, in Appalachia, I saw many voting places in the local general stores.
At present, my voting place is in a high school gym.
8THIS! Primo aka Chip IMO the best writing you have shared with us so far. It touched my heart. Kudos.
9Wait times of 45 minutes are reported at polls in Waco and two locations in Temple ran out of Democratic ballots.
10Years ago I was taught that political science is the study of the ordering of relationships among people. I still dig people and relationships but I think politics never was a science. I guess thats called coming to grips with reality. Anyhooo, the voting is strong at my local polling place. In my neck of the woods, D’s outnumber R’s. Keeping an eye and ear open on my TV and radio for results.
11I am sooooo glad that in CO all of my voting can be done by mail-in ballot. I fill out my ballot and I always hand-carry it to the County Offices and personally drop it into the ballot box … so I know it has been delivered and on time! It’s not that I don’t trust the post office, but … I don’t!! I want to know, for a fact, that the ballot is in the box because I put it there!!
12I wish every State had mail-in ballots … it just makes it so much easier for those who don’t have an easy time getting to the voting booths.
Thanks for this, Chip. The most unusual polling location for me was in a neighbor’s garage in Metariie, suburb of New Orleans, to vote for Louisiana statewide candidates way back in the early 80s.
13I voted by mail(caus I’m old enough) and because voting in the church always scares me, I mean the roof should cave in if I’m there!
14I early voted but drove past one of the voting locations in Montrose. The line must have had at least one hundred people on the outside patiently waiting, chatting and laughing. Oh yeah – pretty sure that those were mostly democrats 🙂
15@sharon
If that’s Montrose, Colorado give ole Ralph and Ricky a friendly wave from the Micr fam down here in Texas.
16At my Minnesota caucus the high school was packed! There were young people barely old enough to vote, children with their parents, elders pushing their walkers. I sat next to a young woman who was 10 weeks pregnant with her first and fighting off nausea to be there. It was a beautiful thing.
Great post Chip. I LOVE DEMOCRACY!!!!!
17I clerked in an a museum district precinct, where we qualified and voted just under 500 voters – on FOUR e-slates. I was told that EVERY voting place in Harris County – precincts were combined, we had five in ours – got ONLY FOUR E-SLATES. If you saw pix on the news – or saw the lines IRL – those long lines were because we got way fewer voting machines than we should have. We used to get six e-slates for any little tiny local election that the total turnout wouldn’t break 200 – I want to know WHY? Not because there were twice as many polling places, Rs and Ds – there were NOT.
18My polling place is in the community room of one of the neighborhood’s very few high rise apartment buildings. I’m one of the few who votes in every primary and every general, every year. I even showed up once when there was nothing (and no one) to vote for in my district.
I want EVERYONE to register and vote.
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