voting
At the voting center this morning, seen and heard:
A giant of a man — one running for an office and not someone I would vote for, not ever, not for any office, not even if he were the only candidate on the planet — stands outside the voting center, a sprawling church on the east side of town. He is greeting everyone who walks up the path.
I thought, but maybe I’m wrong, that last-ditch campaigning outside a polling place was forbidden. Maybe there’s a rule about how many feet from the door you must be. Still, there he is, directly in the path of most of the people who walk into the polling place. Seems wrong to me.
The giant man moves toward me now as I walk up the path, his big hammy hand outstretched. “HI!” he booms. I grumble something unintelligible in return, keep walking.
Inside, a long line of people here to vote. It is ten in the morning. A woman sits at a card table by the entrance, checking us in.
“Do you have your card?” She asks each one of us this and depending on our answer sends us right or left. I go right. No card.
Now she is asking a portly man in a Notre Dame windbreaker. He looks befuddled.
“I don’t know, did I get a card?”
“Well, I certainly don’t know,” she says. “Did you?”
We all laugh, all of us in the long line, waiting our turn to cast our votes. Before me, a man in a tweed sport coat muses: “This is the best turnout I’ve ever seen.” His friend nods. “Yeah buddy.”
And then the line moves forward. I cast my vote, not voting for the giant man, not voting for some other folks even though they do, in fact, run unopposed. In this red state, my votes are often not cast for want of a blue candidate, or cast as votes against, not for. But still: this is my voice, my vote.
Outside the church the giant man is still there, cheerily greeting people walking in to vote, even those of us leaving. Yet now, he looks a little colder, a little deflated, not so giant. I smile at him. Keep walking.
Election results…LINK
November 7th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I had heard about Bob doing that — Satya mentioned that he was standing right outside the door (less than 50′ away) as well, farming votes.
Aren’t there laws against that?
November 8th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
If there’s such a strong separation between church and state, how is it a church can be a voting place for any government position?
There were signs at our voting location that stated “Campaigning prohibited beyond this point,” yet there was a man standing nearby passing out cards with his name on them and requesting votes for city council. Normally, I would look down on this, but the man’s presence gave me a favorable message. He was approximately 40ish, a farmer and father who most likely couldn’t afford the glitzy signs, billboards and newspaper ads his older, experienced political opponents had plastered around town. I could be fooled, but I can’t help but hope someone like this would bring a different perspective to a board where “professional” politicians typically dominate. (Needless to say, he didn’t win the spot, though.)
November 8th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I agree, Audrey. Having voting precincts inside churches seems a violation of the separation of church and state. In fact, this is the comment I wrote on the survey they offered to use as we left.
Jean, if it was the same precinct, I know of the man to which you refer. The same man was brought to my door a few weeks ago. So many questions I wanted to ask. So many challenges.