Right to Vote

The Right is a powerful word.  This year marked the 100th year that I as a woman have had the option to cast a vote, and I exercised that privilege.  Memories of my years of voting have been like a big pot of soup:  varied vegetables, savory herbs, tender and substantial pieces of meat and a broth that absorbs all the flavors.

Those vegetables represent various places the event has occurred.  I first became aware of voting when I went with my parents to the Log Cabin in Hammond, Louisiana.  A true oversized log cabin used for a strawberry auction in the spring and college parties in the fall.  At appropriate times locals came to vote. They were given a sheet of newsprint with candidates printed in columns under the party they represented. A pencil eraser was tapped on an ink pad and pressed against the box of choice. After I began voting, the event happened mostly in school gymnasiums or cafeterias, though once in a fire station.  One solemn year it was in the parish hall of a church.

Ah, those flavoring spices.  These are the current issues that go with an election.  Have choices been colored by rumors about pay raises or improper use of funds? Did the location of the polling place hinder some people’s ability to arrive? The number of signs posted or the workers who check validation or the length of time it takes to cast a ballot become tales to be told.

Sturdy and chewy meat has to be the candidates. Each of us has an opinion, as we should.  Some years I have done worthwhile research and vote confidently for the “right person. ” Other years, I take my number and go to a booth barely being a positive statistic. For six years I voted against a certain judge, hoping to single handedly reduce the number of votes he received.

Binding all this together is the broth, my unwavering belief in the worthiness of the process, and the hope that my being a part of it makes a difference.  I have a strong feeling of patriotism and an appreciation of what is offered to me in a democracy. We have had to move beyond the founding fathers’ vision and extend the right of the ballot to groups once excluded.  At times we catch our breath at putting the country’s well-being in the hands of so many disparate people.  When that happens, we need not just to click Enter, but to also offer a prayer.

I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men,     for kings and all who are in high position, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.

I Timothy 2:1-2