“Ka-Chunk”: What a Voting Booth Taught Me About Democracy

I understand it is poor form to start anything out with “Back in my day . . .”, but I keep coming back to that starting point. Maybe it’s just part and parcel of being my age. Still, it offers a starting point for my observations this week.

Back in my day, “Civics” was a class all itself. It wasn’t a unit. It was a whole class!  My suburban school system in the Greater Chicago Area taught civics in 7^th Grade. At the time, this was called “Junior High School”.

Civics As Core Curriculum

My Civics teacher was also my History teacher, not to be confused with Social Sciences. While “Civics” was a semester-long course, the themes we touched on there were woven into course work in history and social studies.

Maybe one of the reasons the course sticks with me is that back then we were required to memorize important pieces of our history. We all had the Pledge of Allegiance down. But we added the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address to our repertoire.

We had assignments to identify our elected officials from the President on down to the local school board. We had assignments on how a bill was passed in Congress. And we had tests on all this, too!

You Do It Differently?

It never occurred to me that this was not what other school systems were doing.  I just assumed every student was receiving this basic education in how democracy worked. What also went unquestioned was my assumption that every other state and local government was just like the one I was learning about.

Imagine my utter surprise when I learned how vastly different “democracy” is experienced, taught, and applied around the country!  I had the good fortune to live in different states during my younger years. Each time I moved, I discovered the nuances, different routines, and election requirements that I had once thought were the same throughout the country. Different things were required to register to vote. Different days were set aside for voting. Different offices were on the ballot.

But it wasn’t until I moved to California that I got a real taste of Citizen-Democracy.

Citizen Democracy

California in the late 1970s was a hot-bed of change. Jimmy Carter was doing his darndest to get us out of the quagmire of economic stagflation and international crisis with the Iran hostages. California was getting ready to send its native son Ronald Reagan to Washington, D.C. This was before he became a conservative icon.

I am a bit hazy about the exact steps I needed to take to register to vote, but I know I did, because I do remember what the voting actually was like.

The California Way

Prior to my experience in California, most of the voting I had done was in curtain-enclosed closets where an array of toggle switches marked the choices to be made. Flip the switch, you voted. To submit your ballot, you pulled a larger lever which simultaneously secured your ballot and opened the curtain. Now that was voting.

Not how it is/was done in California!  First off, it wasn’t just voting for people for the offices, there was also the Propositions. Seems Californians vote on EVERYTHING!  The ballot was lengthy and required attention to details. Marking the wrong box unintentionally was a definite possibility.

Community Gathering

Californians also enjoy their time at the polls, with coffee and conversation (not electioneering). The voting “booth” was nothing more than a flimsy table with folding upright leaves on three sides for privacy.

My polling place was a mansion in one of the ritzier parts of town. It was known for its cinnamon donuts and coffee offered to folks who were waiting in line to vote.

I must admit, it was both overwhelming and still a bit of a letdown to mark my ballot in California. I missed the “ka-chunk” of the curtain being pulled back and didn’t get the same rush putting my completed ballot in the box on my way out of the polling place.

Poll Working

All these years later, that polling-place energy still gets me. Which is why, this weekend, I’m going to be a poll worker. California is having a primary election to decide who we want to run for Governor in the fall, along with other state and local offices including superintendent of schools, auditor-controller, State Insurance Commissioner and Attorney General.

I take pride in voting, and I am looking forward to being a poll worker. I learned in my civics class, lo those many years ago, that participation by citizens is what makes this country unique.

I have always taken my vote seriously and take pride in never having missed an election, local, state or national. I am saddened when the numbers come out after an election noting how many people did not choose to vote.

Feeling Your Vote Doesn’t Matter?

I’m probably going to sound a bit preachy here, but I am passionate about voting.  Not just because I am a woman, and it took so darn long for us to get the vote.  Or because there are still people risking their lives for the chance to vote.

If you are among the disenfranchised, believing that your vote doesn’t matter, may I ask you to reconsider?  Here’s how I think about my vote. I am choosing the person I feel best represents me and my values and who will vigorously seek to get my needs met from the candidates who placed themselves in the running. I may not like the candidate pool, but its up to me to make the best choice out of those who are running.

I do not cast my vote as if this is a popularity contest nor do I play the odds like betting on the Kentucky Derby. This is much more serious than that. I realize this is not how most folks think about these elections, which both frightens me and disappoints me.

One Last Thought

Civics may no longer be taught as a separate class in school any more. But if you were to put me in charge, I would require all students between the ages of 14 and 18 to watch every episode of The West Wing — all seven seasons — and come away with a real feel for the importance and human cost of holding elected office.