The importance of casting a ballot, always
On Nov. 22, 1963, I was an 11-year-old sixth-grader at El Cerrito Elementary School in LaHabra, Calif. It was my turn to be a lunch monitor, taking tickets when the students entered the cafeteria. So there I was in my place with several teachers and cafeteria workers getting ready for the lunch bell to ring when the principal’s voice came over the loudspeaker. She said that President Kennedy had been assassinated and classes were dismissed for the day. I remember being confused, even more so when I saw the stunned reactions of the adults in the cafeteria. But it was a beautiful sunny day and who wouldn’t want to have an unexpected afternoon to play.
I remember rushing the several blocks home and coming in the front door to a dark house. The curtains were drawn and there was my mother sitting on an ottoman pulled up to our black and white television set in the living room, tears streaming down her face as she watched Walter Cronkite. I told her we got out of school because the president had been assassinated, obviously not having an awareness of the definition of the word or the significance.
My parents were very active in Republican politics so I knew they’d been supporters of Richard Nixon, whom Kennedy had beat in the 1960 presidential election. My mother looked so sad which puzzled me. I said to her, “I thought you didn’t like Kennedy.” She turned, looked me square in the eye and said, “He was the president of United States!”
That was a pivotal, teachable moment, decades before that phrase came into our vocabulary. I registered to vote when I turned 18 in 1970 and have voted in 12 presidential elections, spanning decades of historic times in our nation.
1972—Nixon/McGovern, 1976—Carter/Ford, 1980—Reagan/Carter, 1984—Reagan/Mondale, 1988—HW Bush/Dukakis, 1992—Clinton/HW Bush/Perot, 1996—Clinton, Dole/Perot, 2000—GW Bush/Gore, 2004—GW Bush/Kerry, 2008—Obama, McCain, 2012—Obama/Romney, 2016—Trump/H Clinton.
Next Tuesday I’ll go to the polls alongside my neighbors and in the 100th anniversary year of womens’ right to vote, I’ll cast my 13th ballot for a president of the United States as well as in congressional races, state and county races that include sheriff and county commissioners, district court magistrates, North Idaho College School Board trustees, a state constitutional amendment, and a measure to increase fees for vehicle registrations in Kootenai County.
Granted, 2020 is unlike any year most of us have ever experienced but the importance of voting is not just in contentious presidential elections during a pandemic. It’s a hard-earned fundamental privilege and right granted to citizens of this country. If this is the first time you’re voting, hopefully it won’t be the last.
“We do not have a government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” — Thomas Jefferson.
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Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday when we fall back one hour at 2 a.m. Just set your clock before going to bed on Saturday night. Change the batteries on your smoke detectors, too!
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Happy Birthday today to Melanie Simpson, Terri Gervais, Laura McNeil, Jenni Gibson, Jill Swoboda, Jonathan Mueller, Tracie Olin Smith, Kathleen Clancy, Bernadette Oaks, Heather Montee, Dale Fitch, Jamie Oliver and Ashley Gerzina. Tomorrow Sandy Patano, Jerry Baltzell, Mark Symons, Kara McCollum, Bill Guy, Amanda Krier, Mary Ransdell, Dave Clark and Shawn Duncan are celebrating. Rainey Coffin, Lori Dahlke, John Kelly, Lori Jurado, Vivian Stadley, Brad Oliver, Kay Mills and Derek McGee mark their big day on Friday. Halloween birthdays for Kathy Prosser, RaeAnne Capaul, Krysta Huft, Amber Copeland, Tom Hasslinger, Rob Moser, Jabet Wheeler, Tyler Engelbrecht, Kevin Grady, Linda Haughton, Jaks Fowler and Susan Johnson. First day of November birthdays belong to Brandon Burchfield, Randy Martens, Bernice Dymek and Pam Jank. On Monday Alex Capaul, Mike Miller, Alan Zerba, Charity Thompson and Kathleen Lazor take another trip around the sun. Election Day birthdays for Helen Nuener, Jill Jurvelin, Hara Allison, Karen Pearl, Patty Harris, Tammy Bray, Darin Hanson, Jerry Mason, Tim Wark and Kelly Tuntland (60!).
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.