Member-only story
Voting in 2020
Voting felt great. It was a warm and sunny day and the line was long. We rode our bikes to the voting site and got into line as a lot attendant told us to expect to wait for two and a half hours.
As a Democratic Committeeperson for my Township precinct, I had sought the interest of constituents in turning out for opening day of in-person early voting. Many had applied for mail-in ballots and I made sure they knew that they could change their minds and vote in-person, early or on Election Day, but that they must bring their ballots with them if they did. I like to stress the importance of having a plan to vote. Others felt most comfortable mailing in their ballots quickly or else returning them to the County’s drop boxes. Any way they chose to vote was still a plan for voting and that is fine with me.
The opening day voting party was a way to stoke some enthusiasm. As I could not wait to vote myself, my thinking was that I could channel that impatience to rally Democratic voters in my historically Republican dominated part of our area in our blue state. With a ballot full of close local races, we also have many opportunities to press the advantage of our reality within the current political climate.
Initially, six people from four households were willing to commit to the voting party. At the time that the early voting schedule was announced by the County Clerk’s…