Refreshing.
Refreshing was the one word that immediately came to my mind as I stood in the early voting line Monday at the City-County Building. It was extremely refreshing to see so many vastly different people voting.
As I people watched in the very cramped voting room, it was a scene I’d never viewed before. There were individuals who were blind voting. There were people who couldn’t read or write, but fortunately had someone trusted with them to show and read the candidate names. As I cast my vote in a back corner, there was a man who was partially paralyzed who wheeled himself next to me. I quickly glanced at him completing the ballot by filling the circles in with his mouth because he couldn’t use his hand. When I folded his ballot up for him and sealed the envelope, I couldn’t help but think of how truly committed the man was to casting his vote.
It was very refreshing to see the different ethnicities, ages and genders all in one area — voting. As I looked around the room, I thought “this would be a great photograph to show young people years from now.” The site was like many of the black and white photographs from the civil rights era that were used to show my generation the progress that’s been made over the years. It was refreshing indeed.
Regardless of the political outcome from the presidential race, people throughout Indiana came out in droves to vote. The turnout was phenomenal and we all should not only be commended for that, but we should hold onto the reality of the times and vow to make the same impact with every election cycle hereafter.
The message that we sent to young people who aren’t yet of voting age is that our votes do count, therefore we need to exercise our right. I volunteered at one polling site from open to close and I saw many first-time voters who were near middle-aged. One man in particular was upset at himself for never voting previously, but in this instance, his actions were better late than never…still something to be proud of.
I wouldn’t be true to myself or anyone reading this column if I didn’t express my disappointment at the results of some of the races. Four of my candidates of choice didn’t win the nomination (or seat for school board) on Tuesday. I strongly believe in these people and I know they would have made a tremendous impact on the city, state and nation. It’s difficult to see people who you strongly feel should be in certain positions, not make it. This is especially disappointing if their political counterparts aren’t as skilled to effectively address the issues at hand. With this election — particularly on a local level, voters were distracted. Not all people research candidates as they should. Instead, they vote for the person whose billboard they see most, or the person who has the name recognition, and so forth. Uninformed voting only leads to adverse results further down the road.
I don’t want anyone to think that my choices for various local and federal offices were the end all be all, but if you examine the facts and experience, you’d see that all the people I voted for this primary far exceeded their opponents in regards to experience, skill set, and the overall execution of positive results.
One of the very powerful things I learned this election is how difficult it is to be a candidate for any office — that’s in regards to president, Congress, governor, Senate, state Legislature, school board, etc. Campaigning is a difficult thing to do — so is running for a position where you place yourself in the position to be voted on publicly. I commend all the people (win or lose) who had the courage to run for office, as it’s an awesome responsibility simply to be a candidate.
For those who didn’t win, I say to you: you didn’t lose either. There are learning experiences in all that we do — thankfully running for public office falls in that category. Know that your efforts made a difference and an impact in at least one person’s life — mine.
