So I have not blogged since being home because I have not found anything as worthy to blog about until today...
Today Nashville had the election for its mayor and councilmen. Since I had the chance I thought I would vote because it is the American thing to do. After talking with friends and doing some research online, I made my decisions. So this morning my grandmother and I drive down to Glendale Methodist where we vote. I was surprisingly excited.
I did not have my voter card, but that was no problem. The lady took my drivers license and flipped open the notebook. I noticed my name was highlighted. There was a problem. Since I did not vote in the last election I was an "inactive" voter. It would have been easily solved except the election official had just left to run an errand. I was shocked! Election officials don't have to be on voting property the whole time!?!?! I did not know if I would be able to make it back in the day so I was bummed. I actually teared up! (Yes, I think that is crazy too! I guess it was important to me.) The new election computers messed up my grandmother's vote, but luckily she caught it. So first trip kind of unsuccessful...
Second attempt, later in the afternoon... The election official was there this time. However, I had to fill out several forms and then she did not know exactly what to do because I was her first inactive voter for the day. She called the phone bank which had not had any phone calls all day (the woman did not even know she was the phone bank!) and after quite a bit of time I was approved to vote. I was the first inactive voter in Davidson County and maybe even the only one! That is hard to believe.
Anyways, I got to vote. The official took a picture of me so I could show my students when I go back. All the workers had questions about China and I left feeling like I had accomplished something. I wore my "I Voted!" sticker all day. :)
Tonight I looked on the news website to check the results and what to my dismay did I find... Not ONE single candidate that I voted for won. Not ONE! I made 7 different votes! What an outrage after all the hassle! Guess that is democracy for you...
(For the record Gentry should be Nashville's next mayor!)
Friday, August 3, 2007
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Ha! During the last presidential election, I realized that I hadn't switched my voter registration from my hometown--so I skipped classes, drove 5 hours from Nashville to Kingsport and voted.
ReplyDeleteAfter all that--not one of my candidates won either! NOT ONE! (we were voting for state legislature and others as well as president)
SOOO--I know how you feel! But, at least we can say we embraced our right to participate!