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Posted by Lisa Hendey in News on Thursday, June 07, 2012 9:00 AM
When it comes to exercising our civic duties, my husband Greg and I have directly opposite preferences. While we both share the firm belief that voting is both a privilege and a duty, we differ on how to vote.
Greg, a busy doctor and someone who absolutely never procrastinates on anything, studies his absentee ballot the day it arrives in the mail, completes it with his votes, and immediately returns it.
I, on the other hand, prefer to go to my local precinct and cast my vote in person. Often, when I’m scurrying around on an election day and feel like skipping for some dumb reason (too much laundry, too long a line…), I think about all of the important reasons why going and voting is the most important thing I’ll do that day. Lately, I’ve had to start checking voting days in advance to make sure I won’t happen to be traveling, which means that the busier I get, the more likely it is that Greg’s preferred method will win me over.
Regardless of whether we vote in the box or on paper at home, I always make a special attempt to share election day with my sons. When they were little, they accompanied me into the booth. I have a photo of Eric’s first vote cast at our local polling place the year he turned 18. Adam will turn of age before the presidential election and as such will be voting in November. Now that they are old enough to understand and appreciate the process, we have frequent discussions not only about the candidates, but also about our civic duties.
That’s why it’s discouraging to me to read the pathetic voter turnout numbers that point to a general state of apathy in society today. Politics aside, it’s tough for me to understand how folks would simply not partake of a right that was denied to so many for such a long time…I also wonder what the answer is for engaging more in the process of selecting our leaders and deciding our propositions.
How about you? Do you prefer to vote in person or are you more likely to vote absentee when it’s convenient for your schedule? And if you elect not to vote, why have you made that decision?
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I also prefer to vote in person & generally take a child or two along with me in the hopes of imparting the message of the necessity of voting with a well-formed Catholic conscience, with knowledge about the issues, & about where candidates stand on these issues. We are fortunate in that we only have to walk across the street to the old elem. school/new community center to vote.
My husband and I got our kids invovled in every election. We would choose a candidate after considering whether he or she was “worthy of our support”, then we’d campaign from the day of the announcement to the election. If our candidate won, the kids would come with us to the swearing in ceremony. I can still see my two year old on his father’s shoulders passing out campaign literature. We had serious discussions with the kids on the merits of the candidates and our position on various issues. They learned alot and so did we, to keep up with their questions. Now, I take my disabled mother and mother-in-law to vote. One is a democrat and one is a republican and I have to assist them both. It keeps me honest! If you don’t vote, you cannot gripe about the outcome.
The dismal turn out here in the valley (San Joaquin Valley, CA) was terribly dismal. That is so unfortunate. It seems that there is such an apathy but then again everybody complains even if they don;t vote. We discuss with our kids, the candidates and the issues and then I usually take them to vote or let them know that it is voting day. It is important to us tat they learn that it is their civic duty to vote and that it is important for the health of the country.
I tend to vote absentee for a couple of reasons. I feel less pressure to pick a candidate. I am able to amply research the candidates. I could do that with in-person voting, but I feel I make better choices this way. It also makes it far more likely that I cast a ballot with my busy schedule.
Here in WA State we don’t have the option to vote in person, at least not in my county. We are sent absentee ballots in the mail and can mail them or turn them in on election day. I kind of miss actually voting in person, but the advantage is that I can do my research as I vote, so I don’t mess up who I want to vote for in the pressure of the moment.
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