~a column by Colleen O’Brien
When I was young, I couldn’t wait to vote. I had three compelling reasons: my father’s and both my grandfathers’ interest in politics; my senior-year civics teacher Frank Linduska; and John F. Kennedy’s name on the ballot for president.
Because of the first two reasons, it was a given that I would vote. Even if no one ever knew, if I neglected to vote, I’d be anxiety ridden waiting for one of those men to discover my sin, as well as probably carrying the guilt the rest of my entirety.
But it was the third reason that thrilled me about voting. I was an all-in Democrat within my heritage, but to get to vote for a fellow who was a handsome Irish hero was the dramatic, teenage-level incentive that had me reading everything I could about JFK in anticipation of pulling the lever for him on Nov. 3, 1964.
Kennedy was shot to death on Nov. 22, 1963.
I was young and naïve, and it shocked me in many ways, that horrifying scene of my president shot in cold blood, beside his wife, in front of the cameras of the world. I did vote, and I’ve voted every time since, always with him in mind. He wasn’t perfect, but he also wasn’t whiny, thoughtless, incoherent or blaming the former administration for all things.
Even though the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is by the skin of its teeth still a federal law protecting our right to vote, things are looking a little dicey for this coming November’s general election. I think of the young and the immigrant first-time voters and their eagerness, like mine decades ago. My hope for them is that in no way will they be restricted from voting in five months – I want them helped to the act, not hindered. The practice of voting affirms me as a full-fledged citizen, and I wish for them the same satisfaction.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of dead in this country is now more than 100,000. The first death was officially recorded on Feb. 29, three very long months ago. Had the shutdown, plus the wearing of masks and the practice of physical distancing been put into action on March 1, a Columbia University research team figured that 55 percent – or 26,000 of reported deaths as of May 3, 2020 – would have been avoided. In the four weeks since that report was published, we’re over a hundred thousand Americans dead from Covid-19.
In November, we get to vote again, and two-thirds of us, according to an NBC Wall Street Journal poll, want to do it by mail. Waiting in line – in some places for hours – among people without masks who can’t figure 6 feet is not a sound choice for any of us to make or for the government to impose on us.
Voting is important, but who wants to contract a possibly deadly virus because somebody doesn’t want us to vote by mail? Why do you not want us to vote by mail, Mr. President? I can see you’re not too interested in the death count, but we are.
Because of the paths the coronavirus is taking, there are many places in the country unsafe enough to have to carry out normal in-person voting. We need universal vote by mail financed by the federal government if states cannot afford to set it up.
And if the Senate says one more time that we don’t have the money, we can tell them to get it from the folks they gave the tax cuts to a couple of years ago.
Voting by mail is neither fraudulent nor easily susceptible to fraud. The president has oft repeated that it is, so Twitter called him on his error. Now he’s plotting to get rid of Twitter on the grounds of his freedom of speech being imposed upon. The hypocrisy of his defending free speech is hardly lost on us. We’ve seen him attacking free speech every day for the past four years.
Will it do any good to contact your representatives and senators to get off the dime and do our bidding? Ask them anyway. The act of voting is important enough to fight for its legitimacy and ease. The more people who vote, the more likely we are to get the best person. We’re looking at a shaky future – both with the virus and with the incumbent who blames Democrats (31 percent of Americans [Gallup]) for the uncontrolled deadly virus.
Because I’m a Democrat, I am called evil in the president’s Tweets. That’s just another of his run-of-the-mill messages written to hurt people. Once again in my life –this time not because I’m star-struck but because I’m scared of four more years – I can’t wait to vote. And I want to do it by mail.
