City Clerk Bill Campbell is known to be a good prognosticator in terms of predicting voter turnout, and he estimates about 32% will vote today. It's drizzly, the Mayoral race is not contested, and local elections haven't gotten quite as much coverage as the triumphs of our local sporting teams. So if anything, one might think Bill's estimate is on the high side. But here's to hoping that more than 1/3 of us will exercise our basic right to vote today.
At first I planned to voting after work. But we were up early today, having not quite adjusted to the time change fully in our house, and I thought it would be fun to take my two year old to the polls with me on the way to daycare. It was a great excuse to expose him to two important things--voting and school! I did try to explain voting to him a bit, though he was more interested in watching kids eat their breakfast in the school gym/cafeteria. Nonetheless, I hope this early exposure to the process will remain with him some rainy election day when he's older, and he'll make the effort to take an extra 15 minutes to participate in our democracy.
Sure, there are reasons not to vote. But today as I walked past candidates standing in the rain, I was reminded of the hard work and risk they take to participate as candidates. I was reminded of those that have served our country--be it in the military or the civil rights movement--to ensure that we all have the right to vote. Fifteen minutes on a rainy day is not much of a sacrifice by comparison.
Click here to find out where to vote today.
This article is about a previous years' parade. For information about 2009's parade please click