Proud voter

This morning I went to vote at our local community college. I only had to wait in line about 20 minutes, which I thought wasn't bad at all, although it was longer than I've ever had to wait for early voting, and this was despite the existence of several new early voting locations this time. However, when I was in the middle of casting my ballot (via electronic machines), I noticed it was asking me to vote for the wrong U.S. congressional representative; it had District 9 on the ballot, and I knew that I was in District 7, and the name of my beloved Representative John Culberson (voted AGAINST the $700,000,000,000 "bailout" both times, among numerous other reasons for liking him) was nowhere to be found. I didn't have my voter's registration card with me, so I had to talk to various people, and then wait while they had to call on the phone and wait to talk to other various people.

Meanwhile, Cutie had already finished the snack that I had brought for her, and she was getting very antsy. (It would have been easier for me to find someone to leave her with while I voted, but I want her to witness my participation in the political process so that she will be excited about participating herself oneday.) Providencially, there were a few breakfast snacks for the volunteers, including some animal crackers and orange juice, which they gladly shared with us. (Now Cutie thinks that voting means going to a room where they hand out animal crackers and stickers.)

They finally corrected my District in the system, but then I had to cancel the current ballot and wait to be issued a new "code", which took awhile because it initially said that I had already voted, even though I watched while my ballot was cancelled. An hour after I actually started voting, I finally left with my vote on an accurate ballot officially submitted. (And Cutie had missed storytime at the library, which she also missed last week when I had a doctor's appointment.)

The thought that I could just probably leave without voting and not bothering to come back did cross my mind at a couple of points, because my precinct and district and state are all heavily skewed (in my preferred direction), so I feel like my vote doesn't count for much anyway. (I would love to be able to vote in a borderline race where I felt like my vote made a difference.) But not voting would have been making a mockery of countless lives that were lost in fighting for this precious freedom, and would have been abdicating a biblically-mandated obligation to pursue justice, especially on behalf of those who cannot fight for themselves.

I am proud that I was aware enough of the mistake (deemed to be an isolated manual error when my information had been entered into the system, which I don't understand, since I've voted several times in this district, and I've never had a problem before) that I could get it corrected; however, it made me wonder how many other people had mistakes on their ballots that went unnoticed, either because the voters were not aware of what district they were in, or the names of the candidates running in their district (in which case I don't think they should be allowed to vote at all), or because the hit the straight party ticket button without pausing to verify specific races. Make sure you check your ballot carefully when you go to vote!