Election Day

Today is election day. I always vote because my parents instilled the importance of voting in all their children. It's what good citizens do. I think I've only missed two elections since I started voting in 1975. I even drove from Cullowhee to Charlotte one year to vote "yes" for liquor by the drink. I've voted at Newell School, Newell Presbyterian, Newell VFD, and now at Reedy Creek School. I've voted by absentee ballot twice. I've voted early. I've voted on machines with little levers and a curtain at my back, and I've voted by touch screen. Today was not a typical voting experience.

Today I drove to my precinct as a resident of the city of Charlotte. We were annexed into the city on 1 July 2009. This means I don't have to pay for garbage pick up, and the Charlotte Fire Department will come to my rescue instead of the Newell Volunteer Fire Department. It means I get to vote for a mayor for the first time. It also means I get to pay big city taxes for these services.

The Mecklenburg County Board of Elections failed to make the changes on my voter registration. The precinct worker gave me a paper ballot and a giant envelope. "Fill in the ballot, and complete the form on the outside of the envelope. Put your ballot inside the envelope, seal it, and bring it back to me," she instructs. 

"Do I need a number 2 pencil?" I asked, looking for a little humor.

"No, just a dark pen," she answers. (That one went right over her head.)

OK, I can do that. She points to a student desk over by the door. I sit, color the ovals on the ballot with a Bic pen, complete the information needed on the envelope, drop the ballot inside the envelope, seal the envelope, and return the whole business to the precinct worker. She gives me a web address and a number. This is access to my provisional voting status.

Provisional???? My mother would have hit the ceiling! I just said, "Thank you. My tax dollars are at work." And I walked outside to a beautiful November day.