I Voted

Did you?

Truth be told, today was the first time I've ever voted in a primary election. I've voted in every "major" election since I was 18, but I typically skip the less significant (i.e., less publicized) ones, just like nearly everyone else I know. But today I actually went to my polling place--my eerily empty polling place--and cast my votes for Minneapolis Mayor, Parks & Rec Board, Board of Estimation and Taxation, City Council, and Library Board. I had to bring a "cheat sheet" with me to remember which names I wanted (the Library Board candidates certainly haven't been duking it out in mudslinging ads during prime time TV and therefore they aren't exactly household names), but I did vote, and I didn't just choose names at random.

It's weird to wear an "I Voted" sticker with pride in mid-September, but I'm wearing it anyway. I don't know when I became such a civics nerd... It's not like I ever particularly related to Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club, whose response, when asked why he needed a fake ID was, "So I can vote." But anyone who knows me knows that the last two national elections got me more worked up about politics than I ever have been before, and I guess I feel like I need to take that energy and put it towards whatever small efforts I can. I get so frustrated when I think about the directives and priorities towards which this country seems to be trying to swing. I feel enraged and yet so powerless. I write my Congressmen; I click the possibly pointless little "sign our petition" buttons on the mailings from MoveOn and True Majority; but I don't really feel like I'm doing anything of influence or value. So I feel maybe I should try caring a bit more about my immediate surroundings--take more of an interest in the local goings-on, in the hopes that the "trickle-up" philosophy might have some merit. That or maybe this civic-mindedness just comes from my platonic "celebrity girlcrush" on Sarah Vowell; the people you're smitten with always influence you in one way or another, it seems.

So. Back to today's primary. I must say, if you've only ever voted in the rush hour time periods of a major election (i.e., the before and after work slots just after polls open and right before they close), I recommend checking out a primary sometime. It's a completely different, albeit more lackluster, voting experience. There will be no wait in line... in fact, with no line of neighbors to follow into the polling place, I actually had to seek out the "Vote here" signs and their accompanying arrows to find the proper room. Moreover, the experienced set of election judges who normally greet me--the alert and organized group of mostly retirees taking their civic duties very seriously--were not out in full force. I think for the primary, they bring in the B-Team--a significantly mellower (and more scattered) group who apparently left their "game face" at home.

It was also strange to see the volunteers flip through a near-empty voter registration roster a mere hour and a half prior to poll closing time. Maybe I shouldn't recommend voting in the primaries after all, as my neighbors' overwhelming lack of interest in the political process is really a bit depressing. On the other hand, being one of only about 20-some voters to register my preference for City Council representative also provides a feeling of power and influence that's disproportionate from that of a "normal" election. Small victories: I have to take them wherever I can.