The Ash Creek Papers

It felt good to vote. Too bad more of our citizens don’t exercise their right to contribute a voice in determining who is going to represent us in government. People in other lands would give their eye teeth to have an opportunity to vote in an election… any election… even a rigged one!

We complain about our government the way we complain about the weather. But there is a difference. We can do nothing about the weather; but we can do something about our government. And for every person who takes the small step and registers to vote, and then steps into the polling place, in a very important way, that person takes a step in making this a better Country.

It goes beyond being our right to vote. It is our responsibility to vote… to help shape our government.

Perhaps you remember this slogan: “Love our Country, or leave it!” Maybe try this one on for size: “On Election Day, Vote… or pack your bags and move to a place where you can’t!”

That’s enough of that. I’ll surrender the soap box to more articulate and capable voices.

Take a step thru the political hoopla… the barrage of TV commercials, nightly calls from Party ‘foot soldiers’, political junk mail galore… there still exists the beauty of the neighborhood and the town that flowers on Election Day.

I saw this in Norwalk all the years I lived there. And I saw this in Woodbury, where I cast my vote this past Tuesday. First, let me point out… by nature I am a morning person. Always have been. As a morning person I vote as early as possible. If the polls opened at 3:00AM I’d be there. Not to make a statement about being first in line or something. It’s because I like to see the volunteers fresh in their routines… and to enjoy the faces of like minded voters who prefer to get things done early.

I got to Mitchell Elementary School a few minutes before 6:00AM (usually Woodbury votes in Town Hall; but if they expect a big turn out… it moves to Mitchell). I liked that there was less activity around the polling place. In Norwalk there would have been candidates and Party workers handing out stuff, shaking hands and the like… of course this all would take place outside the 25 yards from the polling place required by law (or whatever the distance).

But regardless of the Town (or neighborhood), the volunteers who man the polling station are of a similar stripe. The League of Women Voters (or Brothers of the Ballot) are recruited from the ranks of the retired or soon to be retired.

There is an ease to their appearance that is totally comforting. Men in dark slacks, plaid L.L. Bean shirts… ladies in pants suits and contrasting cardigan sweaters.

Although there is a volunteer’s hospitality table with hot drinks and donuts, they bring, depending on shift, their own thermos bottles of soup or coffee… water bottles and a handful of hard sucking candies. They have a look of pleasant familiarity… their focus is on their civic duty.

Peel back the years, 50 in number say, and they were the ones who worked tireously (and without thanks) on the prom committee. You have the sense that they have been in the Town, or neighborhood, forever… that they know everybody… And if there is a strange Camry parked in front of Missy Stengl’s overnight, they know it. And now you do, too.

I am #6 in line. When I get to the table for Streets “M” to “W” there are two women seated there, and a third woman seated in a table behind. I assume that the two women in front are representatives of the major Parties, and they are there to see that the other Party does not engage in “funny stuff.”

I give my name and address, produce my driver’s license to confirm my identity… my name is located on the computer roster, crossed from the list and one of them says “408”…This is for the benefit of the third lady sitting at the table in back. I don’t know what the hell she is doing… but she so notes it. Nor do I know why I am “408”. Maybe they keep track of Democrats in Woodbury. Anyway, privately I think I deserve a higher number… or a lower number, if that’s better.

Having established that I was who I said I was to the satisfaction of all 3 election officials, I was permitted to enter one of the voting booths. Each booth was supervised by yet another volunteer.

No men are trusted to the tables. Never in all my years of voting have I ever seen a man on the tables. Booth supervisors, yes. Tables, no. Maybe retired men have circulation problems if they remained seated for too long. Or maybe this is a form of cruel gender discrimination… we make the men stand for four hour shifts. Men… or women who we don’t like… Like women who have strange Camry’s parked in front of their houses overnight.

I glance left and right… each guardian taking ownership for his or her booth… each proffering a nod and smile as a voter enters the curtained booth. I vote in good order, and when done I emerge from the booth refreshed and voted.

I am now greeted by my “guardian”… on this occasion it’s a woman (maybe she should tell the Camry to park down the street and then she would get promoted to a table)… she gives me a sticker “I have voted today”.

She gives me a smile. A smile that I treasure. I don’t care who parks in front of her house. I feel good.

I have voted. I feel a part of a community. It ain’t much, and yet it’s a whole lot.

Election falls on November 7th this year. For the first time I will be exercising my right as a U.S. citizen to vote in the town of Woodbury. The polling location is in our Town Hall. Town Hall is a simple wood frame construction. It is similar in appearance to the clutch of churches that line the western side of Route 6 in Woodbury.

I have yet to be inside of Town Hall. But I like that at other times of the year, Town Hall is used for art shows, square dancing, blood drives and other selected entertainments.

But come Tuesday morning at 6:00AM, or thereabouts, I will step inside for the first time to cast my vote.

Much attention, much national attention, is focused on our Senatorial race. A race that is featuring two Democrats and a Republican after thought. Ned Lamont, the Democratic standard bearer is locked in a battle with our incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, or should I say, locked in a battle again. You see, they already engaged in battle in the primary. A primary battle won by Lamont fair and square.

Usually, we would expect the loser, Joe Lieberman in this case, to graciously accept defeat, shake hands with the winner, and importantly, pledge his support in the upcoming battle against the champion of darkness from the Republican Party.

That’s what you’d expect. But that’s not what happened. You see, Ned Lampont did such a bang up job identifying Joe Lieberman as George Bush’s errand boy that he fooled both the Democrats and the Republicans in our State. Joe Lieberman has rather ungraciously decided to continue to defend his Senate seat from a “neutral” party.

We are now left with the Democratic Party divided against itself and the Republicans happily supporting Joe Lieberman who they have now, ipso facto, adopted as their own. The real Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger is being treated like the fat kid in 10th grade running for school secretary.

Ya gotta love Connecticut. It should be pointed out that we do have a precedent for this election mish mosh. There was a time when Lowell Weicker lost the confidence of State Republicans and had to carry on as an “Independent.” I had no trouble as a “life long” Democrat switching over to vote for him. I voted for him even before he switched (my way of saying thanks for being the Republican on the Watergate Committee who had the cajones to stick it to Nixon). And I voted for him against Joe Lieberman in our Gubernatorial election.

To be honest. I would vote for Weicker today. Here is a guy who runs for Governor pledging not to put in a State income tax. He gets elected. And within 90 days tells the citizens of the State that he has just had a good look at the “books” and it is obvious that the State needs an income tax. He said that he had been wrong. He had to pursue a course that he felt was for the good of our State, that he would not follow an unwise path merely to get re-elected… further, he had no interest in running for a second term.

Bravo! A guy with cajones, doing something he felt was necessary regardless of whether it was popular,

Well, that’s all well and good. Weicker is not running.

So here it is… we have Joe Lieberman with a smile that is a cross between the Grinch-who-stole-Christmas and the Reverend Robert Schuler. Ned Lamont with Vulcan eyebrows, “mean lines” between his eyes and the worst haircut since Al Sharpton. Or the fat kid from the 10th grade.

I’m not loving my choices here.

But that’s not unusual. I rarely vote for someone I actually like, as opposed to voting for the “lesser of two evils”. But come Tuesday morning, I will take my position in line to exercise my right to vote. I do so with pride.

I suggest you do the same.