Comments on: The Big Green Button

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:30:49 +0000

My parents always watched the major convention speeches for both parties, every debate, and what felt like every major interview with the candidate from either party. I remember being bored out of my skull as a little kid and complaining about wanting to watch something else but they would always tell me it was their civic duty and it was extremely important that they be as informed as possible. That defiantly wore off on me. My dad uses a wheelchair and often he could not access the polling places so he would have me run his absentee ballot into the building for him or we’d go as a family so my mom could help him over a curb or whatnot. That all made a huge impact on me. Now my kids are begging to watch cartoons instead of the debates. :)

By: Washington City Paper: The Sexist - The Morning After

Washington City Paper: The Sexist - The Morning After — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:36:49 +0000

[...] Via Feministe: Taking your children to vote with you is adorable; homeless voters find obstacles at the [...]

By: UnFit

UnFit — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:35:22 +0000

My mom sometimes took me in along to vote.
When I turned 16 (in my county of Germany, that’s the age at which you can vote in the local elections) we went in together.

Even when I was really little, we’d discuss that stuff around the kitchen table, who to vote for, and why.

As a grown up though, I must confess I’ve become too disillusioned to bother.
The last two times I voted was when there were extreme right wing candidates running for the senate of my city and actually looked like they had a chance.

Other than that though, it’s hard not to lose your faith in the system when your country is governed by a “Big Coalition”. That means both the major parties got together to form a government.
Imagine it didn’t matter who you vote for, because the only difference would be if Obama got to be president with McCain as vice president, or vice versa.

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:10:59 +0000

That’s a really lovely story. I wish my parents were like that, but sadly not. Most of the time they don’t even bother to vote. It’s probably better since they would almost always vote for the most misogynistic candidate running.

By: Roxie

Roxie — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:07:09 +0000

My mom & dad always took me to vote with them.

I loved it. They’d let me hold the pin and I’d get an “I VOTED” sticker that I’d wear all day long. I had opinions and everything.

I remember the Reagan campaign when I was about 4/5yrs old and telling my parents not to vote for the guy.

It all came crashing down when I was 7 and my mom refused to vote for the guy I wanted. I looked up at her and said, “Mommy, am I really voting?”

I remained disenchanted for the next 10 years, but promptly applied for my voter registration card when I turned 17 and 1/2.

By: ks

ks — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:51:49 +0000

I love that story.

My mom was the same way. She never missed an election and she took all of us with her and Dad to vote. She also generally worked in the elections, sometimes inside the polling place (also my grade school), but usually driving elderly people to their polling place or in some other kind of get out the vote effort. And as soon as we were old enough, we did the same.

These days, I don’t work the polls anymore, as I’ve moved away from home and I don’t usually have time, but voting is still a big deal for me. I do always volunteer to help with GOTV efforts before elections and I’ve driven on election days when I can get off work. When my husband got his citizenship in 2004, the first thing he did after the ceremony was register to vote and it was a huge deal for him, as he’d lived here for almost 20 years before he was able to do so. But even before he got his citizenship, voting was still a family affair, as mine had to count for all of us. We never miss an election and we always, always take the kids with us to vote. They love pushing the buttons and getting the stickers and it makes them feel like they’re involved in the process as well.