When this issue of the Cook County News-Herald hits mailboxes, it will likely share space with Cook County mail ballots. They are being prepared for delivery as I write this week’s Unorganized Territory.
I’m not thrilled with voting by mail. For most of the years our family lived away from Minnesota I had to vote by absentee ballot, marking my choices on the ballot, stuffing it in an envelope and popping it in the mail. I did my duty as a U.S. citizen, but it just didn’t feel right.
For one thing, I had to make my decision earlier than everybody else who got to go to the polls. And when we lived in Washington State, Colorado and California, I didn’t get to vote on local issues.
So when we lived in the state of Virginia, not long before moving back to Minnesota, I registered to vote there. I didn’t want to deal with requesting and returning a ballot to Minnesota. And there were local issues I wanted a say in. So, I registered.
On Election Day I headed to the polling place as directed. There was a flag flying proudly next to the “Vote Here” sign at the neighborhood elementary school. There was a line of voters winding through the halls and into the library where the voting stations were set up. Someone had made coffee and there was a table with cookies. People visited as they stood in line waiting for their turn to go into the little curtained area.
It was moving to see democracy in action. I had a hunch not all of the people who stood in line with me were voting the same way I was. But that didn’t matter. We gathered peaceably to cast our votes. There was no political discussion—it’s not allowed within a certain distance to the voting booths—but I don’t think there would have been anyway.
There was an understanding that each individual could make his or her own decisions, privately and without fear of reprisal or scorn.
It was a good feeling. I was proud to be an American and proud to cast my vote.
Sadly, that was the one and only time that I got to go to the polls. We moved back to Cook County before the next election and I was disappointed to learn that I would once again be voting by mail.
I know it saves the county a lot of money. I know it’s easier for the auditor’s office and all the election judges not to be scattered about the county at different polling places. And I know some people appreciate the convenience of being able to pop their ballot in the mail.
Not me. I stubbornly wait until the very last day and hand-carry my ballot to the auditor’s office. There is no line. There is no camaraderie among voters. A friendly auditor’s office staffer accepts my already filled out ballot and that’s it. The election is over. It just isn’t the same.
But at least they still give out the little red “I Voted” stickers.
A new poll showed that if
the election was held today,
people would be confused
because it is normally held in
November.
Kevin Nealon
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