Election Day

It's finally Election Day. I say finally because it puts an end to the annoying political ads on TV. We've had ads for Governor running since May, right after the primary. I've forgotten what other commercials are like. Not that I prefer the Cialis and Viagra commercials to the political ones!

I remember going to vote with my mom as a kid. Our town had these old wooden booths. Each booth had a fabric curtain that you pulled back to enter the booth. My earliest memories of watching Mom vote included her using a pencil and paper ballot. The booths seemed so old, I imagined people voting for JFK in these same booths. When we left the booth, we asked Mom who she voted for. Laura & I thought it was intriguing. Mom told us it wasn't polite to ask, and that was the beauty of a democracy and a secret ballot. Laura & I couldn't wait to grow up to keep secrets, too!

I remember the first election I voted in. Our school district had their budget vote. It was June 7, 1994. I had turned 18 the day before. I asked the polling people if I had to be a resident for 30 days prior to the vote, or if I had to be an 18 year old resident for 30 days. They were baffled by my question. I explained that I had turned 18 just the day before. I was so eager to vote. The power seemed almost intoxicating. I had been waiting for this for quite a while! The polling people decided I could vote, and I was thrilled.

When I went to college that fall, I made sure to get an absentee ballot. NY was going to get a new governor, and I wanted a say in it. I spoke to my parents on election night, and my dad asked who I had voted for. I told him, and found that we had voted for different people. It was the first, but not the last, time dad and I disagreed on politics. I have since learned to tell him 'I voted for the best person'. It satisfies him and there's no argument.

In my twenties, voting wasn't that important to me. I knew how the electoral college worked, and I felt there was no point. If I didn't like either of the candidates, I felt there was no point in giving them my vote. I know it wasn't the most responsible attitude. I imagine a lot of people have that attitude- there are just so many other things occupying our time.

In recent years I have learned more about the women's suffrage movement in the US. Sure, we learned about it in school. But when you're trying to cover 200 plus years in the course of one year of high school- you kind of hit on the highlights. The Civil War was a 'big' unit, we spent maybe a month covering it. We had to know the Amendments, and so we all knew the 19th Amendment granted Women the Right to Vote. We didn't really cover what these women went through.

I think about these women, the courage they had. These are the women girls should be looking up to. Forget about wanting to be Hannah Montana or iCarly. As women, we should be telling our daughters, nieces, and granddaughters about the struggle of women. I would love to see children dressed up as Susan B. Anthony on Halloween. When my Grandmother Wager was born in 1917, women could not vote. That really wasn't long ago. When I was born in 1976, I was told women could do anything. It really was a different world!

Now I know voting is not just a right for women, it is a privilege as well. It is a way to honor those who devoted their lives to it, who changed the world for generations of women after them. I owe it to them to get off my butt and vote. So I did. For the women who blazed the path, for the women who will come after me. For the women in countries who have not come as far as we have in the US. Maybe someday in the near future, I'll be voting for a woman to be President. As long as it's not Hillary!