Election Day memories

Hello, there.

Tomorrow is the day some people have waited two years for, election day. Not just any election day, but mid-term election day. By now, you can't turn on the TV or radio or even the internet without seeing/hearing an advertisement about some political campaign. Vote yes on this amendment, Candidate X is shady, etc. It gets to the point of nausea to be quite honest.

You may hear that "this election is more important than ever", and while the of this midterm cannot be understated (especially this cycle), they all have been important. I remember growing up in North Carolina two very tense elections, both of whom involved the late Jesse Helms. In 1984, in a very hotly contested race, Helms defeated then-governor Jim Hunt. Then in 1990, in an election campaign  that first drew my attention to how nasty political campaigns can be, Helms narrowly defeated Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt.

In the mid-to-late 80s, my stepmother was a judge for the south St. Pauls, NC precinct. I didn't hear of voter suppression or ballot machine cheating as you hear of stories nowadays. I think (I'm going by memory here) the ballots were optically scanned at the Robeson County Board of Elections office in Lumberton, then tabulated.

My parents both were Republicans; my stepmom's brother in fact went to grade school with Ronald Reagan himself. In fact, as an eight-year old I visited his Reagan's childhood home in Dixon, IL. But times change, and so do people. Neither dad  nor my stepmom were alive to see the 2016 election, and I kinda wish they were to see how low the GOP had sank. I myself felt dead inside the night of the election, thinking to myself, "how could we be so stupid?" Of course I think there were shenanigans involved, and I don't think we know the whole story yet. As for me, I've always been an independent voter.

So, the only thing left to do is go vote. Vote like your life depends on it.



CT