First Time Voter

By sheer coincidence, Sarah turned 18 on the day of the Wisconsin partisan primary for the Fall election.  So as a birthday present, I took her to go vote.  She was a little apprehensive because she didn’t have any idea what was on the ballot, or who she should vote for.  Most kids don’t.  But fortunately I was able to give her a quick lesson on the primary and who was running.  I told her that since this was a party primary and there wasn’t much to choose from (you had to go all one party) that it would be a good introduction.  That way when November rolls around (it’ll actually be October since she’ll be voting absentee on the Menomonee Falls ballot in La Crosse) she isn’t overwhelmed by the amount of things on the ballot, and she’ll be able to get it filled out correctly so that it is counted on November 8^th.

We got all the paperwork filled out ahead of time online and printed out so all she had to do was sign it.  Unfortunately I didn’t realize (since the instructions didn’t specify) that she had to have her signature witnessed by a government or polling place official.  She had to have her photo ID to prove who she was (WOW! What a hardship that is to carry around a photo ID, right?) already so I didn’t think witnessing the signature would be a big deal.  It was thought.  The good thing is the poll worker running the registration table allowed her to simply initial and date her already filled in signature rather than having to completely redo the whole form.  I was actually amazed at the common sense applied.

But now she’s on the voter rolls and can exercise her birthright as an American (as long as she doesn’t vote Democrat…  just kidding, we would never tell her who to vote for, she can make up her own mind) and select who will represent her in the government.  My philosophy is you have no right to bitch if you don’t vote.