Voting

As a child, election day was the best. We didn’t have school, we got to enjoy the fall weather, and we got to ask, “Dad… Who’d ya vote for?” My father never told me who he voted for, but it was obvious who he liked when he showed me the cover of the New York Post after George Bush gave his mission accomplished speech on a United State’s aircraft carrier. We’ve never seen eye-to-eye politically.

This was my first chance to vote in a presidential election. I voted for my hometown’s school budget, and I voted for some state senators on Long Island through an absentee ballot. Today I got to do it in person, and it was extremely anticlimactic. There should’ve been dramatic music playing over the loudspeakers, or a firework show in the parking lot. I didn’t even get a sticker.

However, there was some excitement. As I was leaving an older man, I’d say he was in his early seventies, was storming out of the gymnasium holding his ballot. When a young women yelled that he wasn’t not aloud to leave with his ballot he said, “Well who the hell am I supposed to vote for.”

This young hero could not have been any more turned off, as a man working at the election and his mother explained why voting was important. I’m sure all he was thinking about was how fast he could run down the empty hallways of a school building.

Just like back on Long Island , when I voted for my town’s budget and when my parents would take me to vote, there was a man that knew everyone in the room. Mikey Love was the name of the man from my hometown and this man could not have been more similar. The only difference was this man was not wearing a hair piece telling me that voting democratic is a bad thing.

This election has caused a great divide between Americans. In my friend’s group chat, there was some banter about who we were all voting for, my sister and my cousin have gotten into some arguments, and even this married older couple argued with their grandchildren holding their hand. The older man had said, “Trump all the way,” and the woman responded, “You’re kidding right? You have got to be kidding.” As they walked towards the deli across the street he said, “Yes I voted for Trump, what does it matter,”

I thought I would see more college age people in the gymnasium. I saw this man, a close friend of mine, leaving while I was entering. We discussed drinking some beers later, getting coffee, and school work. We also talked about leaving the country if a certain candidate won, as a joke, but who knows.

What gave me hope as I left the parking lot was this woman. She passed me, smiled, and said, “Well, I guess we’ll see what happens.” That is all we can do. I will be at work for the rest of the day, but I’m sure as I bring food out to customers, they’ll have something to say about the election and who is winning.