Robo-Calls

I had my fill of robo-calls last election. So imagine my horror this week when they started again. I live in a small town of about 8,000 people, with maybe 4,000 registered voters. One selectman seat is up for grabs. One candidate has made 3 robo-calls to me, the last an hour ago, urging me to the polls. (I already voted). The other has also reached out to me 3 times - but each call has been a personal call, made by someone I know, who was ready to engage me in a discussion of the issues and answer any questions.

Guess which candidate I voted for?

Election Day Musings

This year will be the first year that we will have 4 voters in the family for the presidential election. Katie's 20, lives at college, and has voted in previous elections--usually by absentee ballot. This will be Jenny's first election. Katie made her selection early, and is still supporting the same candidate she backed in the primary. Jenny supports the "other side". There are three controversial ballot questions in Massachusetts as well, that we each have a different opinion on. (The youngest also has opinions--but has 3 more years to wait before he can cast his first ballot) Its been an interesting election season in our politically "divided" family.

On Saturday, Katie called, and wanted to know if I'd be home on Tuesday. She said that she was coming home to vote. When I asked why she hadn't voted by absentee ballot, she said that in this election she felt it was important to go to the polls and mark her choice in person. (If you read my earlier post on absentee ballots, you'll understand why this was a big deal to me). She also suggested that we all go out to dinner after we voted, before she went back to school.

So, tomorrow, on this uniquely American holiday, my family will cast our very different ballot choices, expressing our individual opinions--and then unite for dinner together.

Our divided family--united in what's really important. Just like America.

Absentee Ballots and Civics Education

I don't always agree with commentator George Will, but he has a thought provoking piece in Newsweek about absentee ballots. He concludes that the increasing emphasis on voting early is eroding the national institution of Election Day.

"The great national coming-together that Election Day has been and should be is a rare communitarian moment in this nation of increasingly inwardly turned individualists who are plugged into their iPods or lost in reveries with their iPhones....The coming of the public into public places for the peaceful allocation of public power should be an exhilarating episode in our civic liturgy."

I agree with him. While absentee ballots are important to ensure that those who will not be geographically located near their assigned polling place on election day will not be disenfranchised, something is lost when voting is made too easy.

One point that Will doesn't make, however, is about the role election day plays in the education of children. I can still remember accompanying my mother to vote as a child. She took the opportunity on the walk to and from the polling place to talk to me about voting, about what it means to be an American, and the responsibilities we have as citizens. I did the same when my children were young. Of course, parents could talk to their children about these things at any time -- but election day is a structured opportunity for civics education.

By making the choice to treat voting as something that needs to be done hurriedly, without gravitas, we're missing an opportunity to impart our civic values to our children, and leaving that job to MTV.