I voted my absentee ballot yesterday. Sitting at my grandmother's dining table in our farmhouse, I finished marking all of the arrows that indicate my choices. Then I followed the directions for refolding and repackaging and mailed the ballot.
In Michigan you can vote absentee if you are over 60 years of age without claiming a hardship, such as being out of town on election day, or inability to get to the polls. Because I have been in Houston for quilt market over election day I've been voting absentee for several years.
I miss the feeling of participation that comes when you show up at a polling place, claim your ballot, and vote. What I do appreciate about early voting is the time spent alone with just me and the ballot. I find that I am more focused. There isn't another voter waiting for a place, so the pressure is off to hurry through the process and be done.
It's an incredible responsibility and a right that I treasure as a citizen. My choices along with the choices of millions of Americans will determine how we govern each other in the days and years ahead.
After all the ads are over, all the mailers have been mailed, all the arguments have been made, it's just one voter and one ballot. That's what counts. One vote. Each and every one vote.
Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler
I agree, there really is something about the experience of going to the polling location, claiming your ballot and then marking it in secret,turning it in to be counted. Our family values this right that has cost our veterans and their families so much over the years. I hope everyone gets out and makes their voice heard on election day.
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