Get out and Vote!

It's rainy and cold and windy and yucky outside today. The kind of day when I want to stay inside and drink hot chocolate. But not today. Today I voted.

In Washington, voting is done by mail. We get our voters pamphlet and ballot in the mail a few weeks before the election and we can mail it back.

This bugged me when we first moved here. I like to drive to the voting location, have my name marked on the voter registration list, stand in a booth and then put my ballot in the box. The act of going somewhere to do this appeals to me. But the advantage of voting by mail is that we got pour over the voter pamphlet for as long as we want and research this or that online as well when we have a question about a candidate's stand. We make our choice without being in a hurry to mark the ballot and get back to whatever is going on in our lives.

My compromise of these two voting methods was to vote this morning in my house and then drive my ballot (and Jason's) to the drop off box. When I got there I saw many people dropping off their ballots too. It warmed my heart to see all these people coming and going; exercising their right to choose their leaders. I was one of them.

I think this moment was more poignant for me because my kids are paying attention to this election. They are eager to learn about the process. They are watching their parents. I was in second grade when Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter. This is the first election I remember. My classroom had a vote complete with ballots and booths and a winner. I voted for Ronald Reagan, but Jimmy Carter won our classroom vote. Ronald Reagan won the election. It was a big deal to vote and take part in the process. Now my kids are in that situation. They know who John McCain and Barack Obama are. We looked in our voter pamphlet and talked about other candidates and races as well (for president, congress, initiatives, etc). At home we talk about the importance of voting. Their classes talk about the election and how it's important to be sure your voice is heard. It's good to be part of this process. It's even better to know it was inspired by God. We feel fortunate to live in this wonderful country.

One day last week when Ethan got home from school he came to me immediately to talk about something he heard that day. He told me that a kid in his class told him that he would never vote for Barack Obama because "Obama believes that it is okay for a woman, if she is pregnant and doesn't want to be, to go to a doctor and the doctor will put poison inside her to kill the baby and then the baby dies and gets sucked out and she doesn't have to worry about it anymore. Isn't that crazy?" His intent was to tell me this outlandish thing that couldn't possibly be true because it is just unbelievable. I looked him in the eye and said, "That is true. It's called abortion and Barack Obama does support it." He was shocked beyond words. His whole body kind of slumped and after a few minutes he said, "I bet that makes Heavenly Father really sad."

Yes, it makes Heavenly Father really sad.

I believe he had a life changing moment. His perspective has changed. The world isn't as nice a place as he thought. Growing up can be a bummer.

Please vote, if you haven't already.