As jaded as I can feel at times about politics, and as much as I am reticent to talk politics, I get totally excited when I go to vote.  Today will be historic no matter which presidential candidate wins, but every time I vote, I feel lucky and grateful to live in a country with free elections.  I can just breeze in on my lunch hour, give my address to the sweet volunteers, and proceed to privately register my vote!  I don’t have to fear for anything, I don’t have to bribe anyone (or be bribed), and I don’t even have to tell anyone for whom or for what I voted.  That’s not something to take for granted.

And though my parents’ votes pretty much cancel out mine, I have them to thank for my love of voting.  They used to take me with them when they voted, back in the days of the big ballot booths, with the curtain and the giant voting swtiches.  Dad would let me pull the switches: “That one” and “Now that one.”  He’d double-check his votes and let me pull the final lever that tallied them all in a big clatter and swung the curtain open like magic.  It was all so fun and mysterious, even though I didn’t understand the power of voting then.  All of that goes with me when I go to the polls, and though it’s just a little table now, it has that same aura for me.  No absentee ballot!  I want to feel the power of the polling place, see my fellow citizens taking part of the process, and get high on democracy.

Amen.