I didn’t vote, but I still have the sticker…

I didn’t vote yesterday.

That really isn’t anything new for me. I haven’t voted in a single presidential election ever. I always figured my vote didn’t matter and I always felt like I was picking between the lesser of two evils. I don’t say this with pride. In fact, I have always been very ashamed of this. I wish I voted. I wish I cared or thought it mattered, but every time an election came around I couldn’t muster the motivation to even register.

Then 2008 came along. I decided I was going to do something about my shame and do my civic duty. When Obama became the nominee there wasn’t anything in the world that was going to keep me from voting for him. Whether my voted matter or not I wanted to be part of this historical election and I was going to vote. I was so excited the day I registered. Yes, I waited until the last possible minute, but it didn’t matter, I was registered and I was going to vote for Obama.

So how did I go from nonvoter to enthusiastic registered voter back to nonvoter?

Yesterday I took my 10 year old son in the voting booth with me for the first time. As we stood there I took a moment to give him a small civics lesson and then we talked a little bit about the meaning of this election. Despite being 10 he is quite informed on the candidates and their positions. He is a curious boy filled with questions and thirst for knowledge. He really wanted to get involved and was pretty annoyed that just because he was a kid his opinion doesn’t matter. I really was looking forward to voting in this election so I understood his disappointment. Just seeing how bummed he was made me feel terrible and I knew I had do something.  So I decided that I was going to include him in this important election and let him do the voting for us both. This was a big moment for a little boy during an even bigger election. As our nation stood poised to unite for change, I wanted to share that feeling of hope with him and give him a chance to be part of something so historic he would remember it for the rest of his life.

We went through the ballot together and reviewed his options with him. I explained to him that I would abide by his decision and let him pull the lever for the candidates of his choice. He has been following the election for some time and Nickelodeon recently had an election special that really fascinated him. Now this was his chance to have his voice heard and I felt a mix of surprise and pride when I saw how important that was to him.  I knew he was ready when he turned to me and said, “I’m ready to Barack the vote” and pulled the lever for Obama. It was a moment, our moment, for change. My son and I were part of electing our nation’s first black president. We chose hope.

Thankfully, so many others made the same choice

When we exited the booth I got a little teary-eyed as one of the volunteers gave us our “I voted” stickers, but I don’t think my son noticed. He was too excited telling his older sister about his vote as she exited her booth after having had a similar experience of her own with her step-mother. The kids continued their chatter and I just smiled as we grabbed our youngest who was waiting for us and headed home to optimistically begin our election party.

I didn’t vote yesterday, and I have never been prouder.

~ by Get270 on November 6, 2008.