Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Democracy In Action

At O'Dark30 this morning, I woke up Maddy and we went to vote. She isn't easy to get out of bed, but this was like Christmas morning to her. She has been so into the election and candidates this year, which I'm happy to encourage. She may be 9 but it's not too early to learn about democracy.

Proof that it is dark at 5:49 am.



When we arrived at the polling place at 5:50, there were already about 15 people in line. I later saw on the news some polling places had lines 3-4 blocks long. A benefit to living in a smaller town - shorter lines.




Maddy had a good time, considering the early morning hour. She watched the sign-in process, waited patiently with me for a voting carrel to open up, then asked questions about the ballot, like why we have to mark the space for candidates who don't have opposition.


We took the ballot over to the reader, and she fed it in. (My phone doesn't do good action shots). We got our "I Voted" stickers, and headed out to the see the sunrise brightening the sky.




If a nine-year old can get out of bed at 5:45 am, you can stand in line for a little while. Vote.

That is all.

9 comments:

Jules said...

I remember going to vote with my mom when I was kid. It was great fun, exciting, and then kind of boring. I also remember being told to stop crawling around the floor after I'd lost interest in the process..

Yay for voting! Isn't it amazing how one simple right we have makes us so empowered and feel so priviledged?

Anonymous said...

It's great you included her in the process!, We had no line this morning at about 8:45, only about 2 people in front of us. I proudly have my "I Voted: sticker on.

Lynn said...

Way to go girls! What patriots you are :) My vote has also been cast, I'm proud to say.

Anonymous said...

we took the girls. i let jeebs cast my vote for president. and we were in and our in less than an hour.

Jakki said...

Yay for you guys!!

Stef said...

I loved going to vote with my parents when I was a kid. Glad you guys had a nice time!

Anonymous said...

I took my son with me, although at three years old he wasn't as excited about the whole process. I remember going with my parents, and think its an important process for them to learn!

Jill of All Trades said...

I'm so glad she got to go with you and wanted to. I remember many, many years ago going with my mother to vote. Yesterday was such a historical event and I hope she maybe wrote down the events to read later in life.

Kelli said...

I remember going with my Mom to the polls around the age of 9 myself. I can still remember the excitement of being in the booth with her and knowing she was doing something important.
Good for you guys.
I left my office around 4:30 yesterday afternoon and surprisingly had no line to wait in!
They were out of I Voted stickers though. Bummer.